Infinite Dragon Emperor
by The Toa of Science Fiction
Summary: A young Issei is transformed by a childhood tragedy and now, more than a decade later, is seeing the world of the supernatural for what it really is. What he finds along the way will force him to rethink his entire existence and reunite him with a long-lost friend. Darker, crazier, slightly paranoid AU; reimagined canon characters plus some others.
1. Prologue

These memories are always a little different, never 100% concrete in their details. But they always remain exactly the same, really.

 _"Behold! I am the King of **all Dragons, the Mighty Issei Hyoudou!** "_

How ironic, I think when remembering that time. I must've been onto something!

 _"Puh-lease! Tremble before the infinite awesomeness of Irina Shidou!"_

 _We're role-playing, standing on some of the smaller stones in the middle of Irina's family's garden. Not that we care, to us it is a bloody and scarred battleground, the Sun receding and the wind howling. And we are the noble warriors, me as a fierce Dragon and Irina as... whatever Irina felt like. It changes more often than it stays the same. At some point isn't she a dragon too? Maybe._

 _"Die, Issei, for I have summoned the ultimate power!" Irina raises her arms above and behind her head, as if holding a fireball, and chucks the imaginary sphere at me. Of course, since we both routinely bend the already-flimsy laws of physics, I create a new move just to block it. But then I realize it'd be even more impressive if I just dodged it, so I do that instead._

 _"Ha! Too slow!" And then, because we are around six or so, I blow raspberry at her, or try at least. The result is laughable, but in the good way, although it is not enough to make either of us break character. We are far too focused for that. "Now you will be destroyed! Super-Ultra-Mega Death Ray!" Yes, I am still a dragon, but I am back and forth between being an alien Dragon, an exploding dragon or a ghost Dragon. Right now I settle on alien dragon. Aliens have death rays._

 _I raise my left fist. I remark briefly how odd it is, since I am an extreme example of sole reliance on my dominant hand, then disregard it as unimportant to resume the battle. I clench it into a fist and perform a crude pitching gesture as if to throw a death-ray at her. In my head I imagine her dragon form (yes, I think that sounds right) swaying its long neck up to a blackened sky, screaming as it falls forward and dies._

 _But she doesn't. Of course she wouldn't, we're both trying to outdo the other, and I don't even mind at that point considering we've already discarded most rules. Instead, Irina simply sidesteps and launches her own attack, even announcing it like the protagonist of some generic anime, just as I had._

 _"You should watch out yourself! Flapping tornado!"_

 _I chuckle, try to stifle it, and make it worse when it does inevitably escape. Then I step down off the makeshift pedestal, just laughing the whole time. Irina does too, but she's only cracking a grin._

 _"What?"_

 _"It's..." I break down laughing again, tears coming into my eyes. "Where'd'ya come up with that one!?"_

 _"It's a serious move, Ise! I flap my wings and it causes tornadoes to form and attack you!"_

 _"But..." I chuckle again, then suck air in until I can continue. "Couldn't you come up with a better name?"_

 _"No," she finalizes seriously. There's a moment of silence as we begin fidgeting and forget what we were supposed to be doing, and lose any interest in returning to it anyway._

 _"I'm bored. You?"_ _We turn slowly to look at each other, and a smile creeps up from the corners of our mouths. A singular smile, almost, and definitely shared._

 _"Three," I begin, and we both ready ourselves._

 _"Two," Irina continues, and right as I prepare to say 'one', she begins sprinting back to the house. I run after her, and while I cannot be certain, I think I begin screaming at her. Something along the lines of "Hey! WAAAAAAIIT!"_

 _In truth I don't care that she started early, and I'm laughing too much to keep up with her. I stop long enough to regain my breath and finish the length at walking speed._

This is one of many memories, just to give you an idea of most of them. None of them are insanely vivid, which considering their relationship with reality makes sense. I've learned to accept they didn't happen, and that they're just what I remembered because they were covering up something far worse: the real events. Otherwise there would've been no upside, only the unfiltered pain that comes with... well, just keep going. This next memory is an important one.

* * *

 _..._

* * *

 _Irina's mother opens the door to let me in, and remembering what manners my parents have managed to teach me, I respond with a simple "thank you". I resume dashing inside immediately, and begin yelling for Irina. She responds by walking out of the hallway and stops by the front door where I am. Without another word we race back to the car together._

There's not much else that happens between this point and when we reach the important stuff, just the usual stuff that happens when six- or seven-year-olds are taken to playdates.

 _Suddenly, as if bypassing any memory of the ride over, we're there. A park, or more accurately, some grass and trees encircling a lake. Sidewalk wraps around it, and benches and fountains are scattered throughout. There's a playground too, and my parents lead us there. Or, more accurately, point it out and let us lead the way for them._

 _It's already changing. The playground is becoming... what? Irina has her own idea what it is, but to me it's an underground city. There's even a moment where the air becomes thicker as I pass through it, and there's a small gurgling noise to be heard, as if passing through a kind of portal._

 _Wait, did I ever imagine that portal being anywhere in my picture of this place? Normally I would instantly assume so, but Irina says something to me, asking if I heard and felt it too. I nod nervously, but shrug it off again as mere coincidence. The two of us begin our next big battle._

 _A small group of guys come sit on a bench not far from the playground, with their backs to the lake that everything else winds around. My parents are already sitting on it, so one or two of the group are left standing. The one closest to my mom starts talking, and my curiosity begins taking hold. I nudge Irina, and begin searching the playground for somewhere we can hide and listen. She quickly follows, and finds a place before I do. We get comfortable and begin listening. At first it's only little snippets of sentences, but eventually it all seems to fall into focus._

 _"Well, y'see, we're on a bit of a tight schedule..." It's one of the strangers. I hear my dad scoffing._

 _"Really now! But not so tight as to have to go anywhere, right? Just to try getting us to understand any of these questions, am I on the right track?" The stranger chuckles._

 _"Eh-heh-heh... I'm dead serious. Give an answer we happen to agree with and we'll leave, right then and there." A pause, and then "Pinky promise?"_

 _Now there's laughter. I'm not sure whose it is, but Irina and I join in, albeit quiet enough that we're not discovered listening in._

 _"Okay, fine," my dad finally responds. "Pinky promise. Now what's the important question?"_

 _"D'ya happen to know any of the Shidou family?"_

 _"Why?" Now it's my mom. She's concerned why these strangers want to know about Irina's family, and I have to agree it's certainly odd._

 _"We're good friends with them ourselves, like you."_

 _"Now **why** do I have a hard time believing that!?" My dad responds angrily, and I understand why. These people won't leave!_

 _"You promised," the stranger argues, almost in a joking and unconcerned tone._

 _"Not to this," my mom reasons._

 _"Meh, oh well." Footsteps as the stranger gets up. I sneak my head out from behind the equipment to see what's happening, and I notice two things. One, I don't see anyone else in the entire park outside of this playground. Two, the sky seems a bit... discolored. I'm not sure how, but it looks **wrong**. I even point it out to Irina and invite her to see for herself. She tells me what's wrong with the color of the sky._

 _"I think that might be because it's not blue. It's purple."_

 _"What!? No way!"_

 _"Yeah, it is!" I suddenly see it. Irina's right! The sky's almost reddened. What's going on!?_

 _I return my focus to the strangers. I see the one that seems to be the leader turn to a woman already standing._

 _"Curious question: can I do it here?"_

 _"Do what here?" My mom asks, but the leader ignores her. The stranger simply replies to her leader: "I believe so; there's no reason you wouldn't be able to." He nods, then turns back to my parents._

 _"I'm sorry, but I regret nothing," he comments offhandedly before waving his hand. I will later compare it to Obi-Wan Kenobi's use of the Force. I see my parents suddenly stiffen, but just continue watching. I can't see her, but I imagine Irina is too._

 _"Alrighty, let's get some answers!" But the stranger that the leader had been sitting next to on the bench suddenly spoke up._

 _"Uh, are you aware that was entirely unnecessary?" The leader turns, and the sitting stranger points. At us._

 _"Even better! Well, I guess you've officially been declared redundant!" I don't know what that word means yet, but just the way he uses it tells me it's nothing good._

 _"Whuh..." My dad asks suddenly._

That's when it happens, and it happens fast. _The one remaining on the bench suddenly pulls something from his jacket. I jump back a little where I stand when I see it._

 _"Can I do it, boss? Please? I wanna test it out!" The leader sighs as if annoyed, but his voice has some level of hopeful enthusiasm to it, as if he too is a little anxious to test whatever it is this other stranger has._

 _"Go ahead, have at it." The leader continues walking triumphantly towards us, but we remain frozen. We've stopped thinking about what might happen, or at least I have. I don't know what Irina's thinking. But I know I'm transfixed, just gazing in wonder and horror as the stranger pulls out what appears to be... oh no!_

 _I give myself no time to react, I simply scream, or begin to._

 _"He's got-" Irina claps a hand over my mouth with impossible speed, although this probably does nothing. The strangers -_ I later learned they were Devils _\- know we are there, and that we are seeing everything. They probably turn their heads before shrugging and turning back, except I don't see it if they do._

 _I hear the gunshot. My eyes immediately water, out of a combination of startlement and the immediate understanding. I begin sobbing through Irina's hand, and I hear her stifling tears too. Suddenly, as quick as they come, they're gone. I stop crying, and something inside me changes. I'm... blank. I don't feel anything._

 _I'm not sure how, but I end up breaking free of her hold on me and I step out from where we were 'hiding'. I don't see my parents, only a little wisp of red smoke in the shape of their bodies. The leader of these killers turns to look at me, then back towards where my mom and dad once existed. I see him smirk as he takes a deep breath, and blows the smoke away. The human-like shapes are destroyed. The last remnant of my parents, gone._

 _"That worked well!" The leader taunts. I just... stand there, frozen both physically and mentally. I don't think, and I see everything as if I'm not there, just witnessing it._

 _"Well, what are you going to do?" The leader spreads his arms wide and turns his head up in a gesture of defenselessness. "C'mon, I won't resist! I only just had your parents killed and probably need to kill you and your friend over there to keep you quiet!" As he mentions Irina, he turns his wrist and points at where she is still sitting, unmoving._

 _I register what he says and begin running, not toward him, but away. I don't want to die, and at this time I'm not sure what I'm thinking or even if I am at all. They don't follow me, and I realize why when I'm suddenly slammed back to the ground. I'd collided with something!_

 _I see it now. The red filter that made the outside world look the way it did, and the lines seemingly drawn into the ground. We'd passed through it, and even noticed the transition, and now we're trapped!_

 _And that's when something else happens, and if I was thinking at all before, I'm certainly not now. Now it's all instinct, and I truly become just a witness. Thinking comes later._

 _I turn back to face the group of strangers. No, Devils. That's what they are, I don't know how but I know it sounds right. I don't just turn, I begin running. Slowly, then with incredible speed._

 ** _("Boost!")_**

 _That's not my voice. I don't feel my throat move, and if I did it would burn from sounding so low and gravelly yet powerful at the same time. How!?_

 _Never mind, I won't get an answer anyway. I raise my left fist again towards the leader as I run, and for a brief moment I feel as if I'm going to break apart. Somewhere my inner anger and grief manage to push something out of me, or into me, I'm not sure yet._

 ** _("Balance Breaker!")_**

 _Instinct tells me this shouldn't be possible, even considering everything so far. Whatever this voice calls "Balance Breaker" sounds extremely dangerous, especially for my body (can I still say myself since I've become so removed from my own body?). I might die, and I have no idea why any of this is happening!_

 _I don't see or feel it, but I can sense it. Somehow, the Devils that killed my parents have ceased to exist, and it seems so have I..._

 _The last thing I hear before blacking out is Irina yelling something. And then nothing._

I should also add that what happened right there shouldn't be possible, but there are a lot of things that shouldn't be possible. That, and it's not possible.

* * *

 _..._

* * *

 _"Issei?"_

 _My eyes jerk open, and I sit up immediately, startled. If there's any pain I don't feel it. I look around. Irina's house._

 _I'm remembering what happened now. Those Devils killed my parents! They were going to kill us too, and we'd walked straight into their trap! How were we alive now!?_

 _Who was speaking?_

 _I turn and see Irina sitting on her knees next to me. I look forward and see Irina's parents, a bit farther away but still watching me closely._

 _"I'm okay," I say. I couldn't think of anything else to say, but that was probably good enough. And it is. I'd spoken, proving I haven't somehow gone mute and that I am still myself. I do some shifting and get to my feet._

 _"I'm so sorry, Issei," Irina's mother says, and I remember what the leading Devil was asking my parents about._

 _"Why were those Devils asking about you!?"_

 _I turn to look at Irina, and follow her eyes back to her parents, who look at each other grimly. They turn back to me, and Irina's dad pulls a silvery crucifix on a string from around his neck. He holds it out for me to see._

 _"Do you know what this is, Issei?" I nod, and he continues. "That's right, it's a cross." I see Irina's mother pull her own cross from around her neck, and I remember that Irina once showed me hers. "It's also a symbol."_

 _"Of what?"_

 _"Who we are and what we do. We've declared ourselves to be servants of God, and there's quite a bit of danger to that. Do you know what a Devil is?"_

 _"Those men were Devils!" I blurt out, and Irina's dad doesn't look surprised. I see him mutter something but can't catch what._

 _"Yes, they were. And they wanted to kill us. We know who they were, and had they been more careful they would've killed us. The sad part is they got to you first."_

 _"What happened?" After a moment he realizes I want to know what happened after I blacked out, so he tells me._

 _"We found you lying unconscious on the playground. We saw the remains of an Entrapment Circle, and we knew immediately what happened. You killed those guys that killed your parents. From what Irina tells us, you used a power that might've killed you too."_

 _"What power?" I forget any questions I might have about what an Entrapment Circle, and then realize he means the force-field we were trapped in. I wanted to know how I was able to kill those Devils! As much as I know I hate them for probably killing my parents, the idea of taking their lives sounds so horrifying!_

 _"That's a bit more complicated. All you need to know is that those Devils will never be able to hurt you again, and you saved Irina's life."_

 _"We'll be taking you to your Aunt Yasaka's in a couple hours," Irina's mother adds._

 _Aunt Yasaka? Who's that?_

 _That's unimportant, I realize, so I say nothing. If she's not a Devil, I'm okay with that._

 _I start sobbing again, and step toward the two. They comfort me, and so does Irina. My parents are dead, but my best friend is alive, so that's got to be good enough. I don't think I reach this conclusion on my own, but still it convinces me I won't spend the rest of my life grieving, which I'm grateful for._

 _My parents were killed by creatures that were probably some type of demon. I used a dangerous power to kill them without ever realizing it and somehow Irina's parents found us before anyone else did._

You can see why I'm a bit skeptical. Everything I knew I felt in these memories was so real, yet nothing else could be. So what does that mean?

* * *

 _..._

* * *

 _The mood backseat is extremely awkward, and it's because I've been told the rest of the plan. Irina and I are still getting along fine, but are both preparing to have to be peeled off each other when the time comes. We say nothing about it though, just keep on exactly as we always do, albeit a bit gloomier. I try to tell myself that I never saw my parents die, for better or worse: for all you know that gun could've teleported them!_

 _No, that's not right. That Devil told me they were dead. And so did Irina's family. They're dead. 'Thinking long and hard about it won't make it any more or less true,' my dad had once said. 'It doesn't do any good to just deny anything.'_

 _We're in the middle of a game of rock-paper-scissors when the car stops. I make one final, destructive move which ends with her own paper in two pieces, and unbuckle. Irina quickly does the same, and we step out of the car almost in unison._

 _The woman claiming to be my aunt is standing in the doorway, smiling warmly. (_ One guess in retrospect is that she was trying her best to ease all of us, which would make sense.) _When she sees me her arms open as if to pick me up and hug me from two dozen feet away. I'm not amused, just become almost entirely expressionless._

 _"Issei!" She says, which makes me somehow more afraid rather than less. Irina's mother offers her hand, and I take it. The gesture itself speaks more than she herself ever can. It's a little uncertain for her too, and we're all there. Irina takes my other hand - the one that I now associate with what happened. My left hand. Together we walk to the doorway, and Yasaka drops into a kind of squat to reach eye-level with me._

 _"Well, kiddo, I guess you'll be staying with me for a while, huh?" She reaches to ruffle my hair but I pull back immediately. Irina and her mother are pulled back a little by the sudden motion. I take a step forward and she smiles again. This time I think it's better._

 _"I'm sorry," I apologize. Yasaka stands up again to talk with Irina's mother, and Irina herself turns to face me. We realize now is the time. We suddenly hug each other and I think some tears are shed. She doesn't say anything like 'stay' or 'don't go'; she's far too understanding of the situation overall to do anything like that. She understands I can't stay with them, but that doesn't mean she has to like it either. I don't think anyone does._

 _"So goodbye then?" is what she says instead. It's a question rather than a statement. It opens the possibility that we will see each other again._

 _"I don't know," I answer, and I'm entirely honest. I have no clue what comes next, no matter how much I want to know. We're still hugging each other for dear life as we talk._

 _"Promise me you'll find me," she says, and I nod into her shoulder._

 _"Okay," I almost whisper. "I'll try."_

 _Yasaka and Irina's mother turn back to look at the two of us, still clinging to one another. I see this, and so does Irina, and I follow their eyes back to Irina's father, who is waiting by the car. They didn't plan to stay for long, which I already know. It's time for them to leave, as soon as possible._

 _Irina joins her mother as they walk back to the car, leaving me just outside Yasaka's doorway. There's a moment of awkward silence rivaling that of the drive here, then Yasaka clears her throat._

 _"Uhm, would you like to come inside, Issei?" I look up at her, and nod, then step inside. "I've already got all your stuff in a room down the hall. I can show you right now if you want." I begin walking with her, not wondering how she already has all my things from my house._

I'll definitely ask later though. And among that are a plethora of other questions. How much does Yasaka know? My best guess for a time would be probably nothing. How is it that all traces of Irina's family disappeared from history after that day? Based on what I'd been told they probably lived almost nomadically. Of course, there was another explanation too.

It didn't happen. Yes, my parents died and I was taken to live with Yasaka, an immediate relative I didn't even know existed. But the rest? Absolute bullshit. Irina wasn't real, her family wasn't real, the Devils and my interaction with them were completely made-up. And that answer fits better than anything else, because I was a kid with an overactive imagination who couldn't bear to see his parents' death for what it really was. So I created a work of fiction to act like a band-aid, covering up what really happened to make it less painful. Here I would have lost my parents but been able to save my best friend. In real life there was no best friend and I had been powerless, and in my experience no one hates anything more than being powerless.

Being the idiot I was, did I ever once ask Yasaka about what happened to my parents? Absolutely not. Did I ever ask about how all my stuff from my house ended up in hers before I ever arrived? Not at all. I just kind of... forgot these questions and moved on. It was all I could do. And it wasn't like I could keep my promise to a figment of my imagination, now could I?

"It doesn't do any good to just deny anything."

* * *

 _ **Okay, I'll try to keep this brief. I was contacted a while back to write a story based on a plot imagined by a fellow writer who as far as I know wishes to remain anonymous. This is the result. Enjoy!**_

 _ **\- The Toa of Science Fiction**_ :-{ )


	2. Act I: The Empty Years

But that was years ago. Six, to be exact. Twice the age I was then is the age I am now. A lifetime since, maybe.

And in that lifetime, I'd slowly but surely settled into things, and once I settled I think I stayed settled. Yasaka was not the only person I had to get used to: she had a daughter, not too much younger than me, named Kunou. In addition there was a roommate - or perhaps several of them, I can't be certain. These roommates would come and go in unpredictable patterns, staying a couple days before leaving for a couple weeks. One in particular I like to think I made a connection with. Somehow I never managed to catch his actual name but he'd always make jokes about what it was, comparing himself to Emperor Palpatine from the Star Wars films, or something about a homemade knife. He called me "apprentice" a lot, and I called him whatever nickname Yasaka gave him, which tended to vary. Although I also had my own nickname for him if I couldn't hear what she'd address him by.

(Sheev, shiv, _ _ _ _ _)

I attended school. I knew quickly that I'd grow to hate it, and wasn't proven wrong by any means. Math wasn't too hard when it was simple but there got to be _so many rules!_ Same story with any other subject. I barely passed anything and it took everything I could to maintain even that, and later I learned why, but we'll get to that later. The teachers there didn't seem bad, just a bit distant and didn't seem to care. The other kids were all chatty and some internal intuition told me none of them cared about one another, despite their obvious desires to make friends if only for the sake of promoting their own social standing. A couple that were sincere were actually mostly jerks, but they were honest jerks and that much was a comfort of sorts. Always preferable company to the giggly sociopaths that made up the majority of the student body. And like me they detested school, which made them easier to understand. Even the smart ones I met, and they obviously had a better sense of their own direction than any a teacher or class could ever give them.

Home life got... tricky, very quickly. Yasaka was understanding enough and didn't seem to worry too much about my school situation, and Kunou was fine, if an annoying little sister could ever be called such. As for "Sensei" as I nicknamed my favorite of Yasaka's roommates, he also seemed to understand, although neither one did anything to help. They weren't the problem. I was.

Not even real problems. Sure, I witnessed my parents die in front of me and my best friend - real or not - was taken from me, but that's life. So what if I happen to relive it every night in a more distorted, more vividly painful way? So what if I happen to be living with someone who I'd never met before the day I was dropped at her doorstep? My closest friend during the best years of my life may not be real? No problem! Not to worry, you can't stop wondering if anything that's happened since is real either but that's okay! Can't trust anyone, even the ones you're pretty sure you love as family? Worry not, that's perfectly normal! Incapable of understanding why an event in the past is having such a profound effect on an otherwise empty present? Life's a progression of past to present to future, get over it!

And it seemed to never stop. Nothing happened except a repeat of the same events for a course of six years or so, or so it seemed. I have no idea how six years passed like that, even when I can safely say I was a special kind of dim bulb. How did I do that?

Fast-forward to one night, when the pattern was broken...

* * *

...

* * *

I'd woken up vaguely aware that I'd screamed. My throat burned, and I was sweating what felt like needles from every pore, yet shivering at the same time. I'd barely had time to sit up before Yasaka was in the room, and the lights came on. I cried out a bit in shock. _God, why'd ya have to blind me!?_

"Issei, what's wrong?" Rhetorical question, even a bit annoying at this point. But I knew Yasaka well enough to know that she'd never ask a question she didn't mean to ask, and I appreciated that. I swallowed, eyes still pinched shut and my right arm thrown over my face, and spoke in a croaky voice. I'd probably done a good deal of screaming.

"I'm okay." A lie. Or at least not the whole truth. I had no idea if I was okay or not, and that at least would be telling you the truth. But Yasaka, no matter how much she understood, wouldn't accept that for an answer.

"'Okay' doesn't mean screaming in your sleep. Now, what's going on? It's happened before and I want to help but you have to let me first." I said nothing in response, just stubbornly held my arm over my eyes in a way I realized later was probably more than a bit rude. In the silence she chose to talk again.

"What was the nightmare about? Were you there again?" I nodded, suddenly remembering it for the first time and realizing that would be correct. A moment or so later I heard a click (that would be the light switch, thank God) and felt my bed sink a little under a new amount of weight. An arm bumped my elbow as it came down and a hand landed in my hair. Also kind of annoying but on the same level comforting, as it was intended to be. I'm certain I relaxed a little without ever realizing I'd ever tensed up.

"I'm so sorry, Issei," she said lowly, still stroking my scalp. "Do you need me to stay in here with you?"

Without any better way of responding, I simply shook my head. As if to indirectly override that, she seemed to wrap herself around me, protecting me from whatever it was that decided I should relive the past in dream form. I think I loved her for that, and appreciated that ability she had to know exactly what I needed even when I don't realize I need it.

She stayed there for a while before she thought I was asleep. And when that happened, she got up quietly and left the room. After that I chose to lay there, contemplating whatever conspiracies I could. _She could be just trying to gauge what I do and don't believe_ was a popular hidden explanation for her behavior. Knowing me, she probably thought I wouldn't have noticed, but I did. Of course I'd never once considered at this time that she really did just care about my wellbeing and knew what had happened would always have that jarring effect on me, nor was I aware at all of any of the more disturbing things that would happen later. For now she was a mother-figure who might or might not be sincere, and any more or less than that was impossible to say.

 _Might know where she is_ , another part of me considered. _She might even **be** a Devil!_

 _No, she would've done something by now if she were a Devil,_ another subconscious voice argued. _She very well could be exactly what she says she is: an aunt who you didn't know existed until you were left in her custody. You were very young then, after all._

 _Exactly._

And I fell asleep, still turning those last two sentences over and over in my mind. I didn't dream this time, except of things I can't remember, which was undoubtedly a mercy.

* * *

...

* * *

That was how the change started, or perhaps it led up to the change, I can't be certain. It certainly wasn't the first time I'd thought like that, and it wouldn't be the last.

It had been on a Sunday night (or perhaps early Monday morning, depending on how you define that transition time around midnight) and that next morning, unfortunately, meant school.

And I was, of course, very sluggish getting up. So sluggish, in fact, that Yasaka had to ask Sensei (who fortunately had gotten home some time that same night) to drive me there. Typically I would've had time to walk, but not today. I was, after all, very sluggish getting up.

He was talkative today, and I tried my best to talk to him.

"So, my young apprentice," he began in his usual mock-enthusiastic voice that to me was always his most genuine form of affection. A moment later he decided what he wanted to ask. "What's been going on?" A very mundane and honestly vague question, which he then decided to clarify by adding, "At school, I mean, with all those guys and gals ya happen to hang out with. Any fun events coming up and such?" I shrugged in response.

"I don't know. I barely even talk to them, actually." I saw him seem to turn this over in his mind, although his exact thoughts were completely unreadable, as they normally were.

"Well..." He began again, and I saw him drumming his fingers against the wheel. Had he been doing that the whole time? Probably. He also seemed to sway his head from side to side as he again considered what to say next. And he did. "You should do that more."

"Why?" Now I could see some of what he was thinking. It looked just a bit like confusion. And then it was gone.

"Because human beings are social animals, generally speaking. No matter how withdrawn a human is they're not built to be alone. Leave the being alone to the wild felines and rodents and such. If ya live up north you'd leave it to the moose and bears. We probably have some bears around here too, now that you think of it."

"And what do bears have to do with me making friends? Better question: how do you know for certain I'm a human?" I saw him smile now. He wagged a finger at me in a form of congratulation.

"Now that's the kind of thinking this world needs, especially in these dark times!" I grinned too.

"Those dark times being?" I asked in curiosity. He was probably just joking, or you could say times were always dark, or he could be serious.

"Why, the revolution of course!" He threw up his free hand and raised it into a belligerent fist, like a rebel seeking blood. In all his waving and gesturing the hand on the wheel didn't falter, and he seemed to know exactly where to steer while keeping perfectly stable, all while darting his eyes back and forth between myself and the road. Yasaka told me he'd been a stunt driver for a while, and then a professional racer, and it was apparent here.

There was a bit of silence, and then we were in the parking lot. I reached down under my seat for my backpack before realizing...

"Aw, shit!" He yelled, and then corrected himself. Yasaka had probably told him to tone down the profanity. He threw a hand over his mouth, muttered an "oops!" and corrected himself. "Oh, crap. Is 'crap' considered profanity?" I shrugged, and then decided to shake my head. He nodded in return. "Right-o, let's go get your backpack. How do you feel about driving really slow on the way back?"

I nodded, my smile bigger than ever.

* * *

...

* * *

"They could be aliens."

"What?"

That was my closest friend's first words as I approached her that afternoon, and we began the usual partial walk home. Ophis was her name, and she was one of the smartest people I'd ever met, although she clearly couldn't care any less than she already did. I'd told you about that, right?

"Those things that you mentioned. The Devils, right? They could be aliens, and what you saw was an abduction. They know you witnessed it and they created the identities of Yasaka and everyone else to keep an eye on you. Maybe even drive you mad in the process, so no one would ever believe what you say."

"I don't even believe what I say!"

"That's my point."

"You're not helping." I smiled grimly, and realized she probably was. "Besides, I don't think so."

"Why not?"

"I remember _killing_ them."

"Them, maybe. But an alien species isn't just a handful of people. Unless..." And then she trailed off. "Unless they're a near-extinct race of parasites who had to abduct your family in order to use as hosts, and you killed some of them in the process!" She seemed to experience a sudden outburst of energy and she jumped up, as if brainstorming made her hyper. It probably did. Scratch that, **definitely** did.

"I might've killed all of them."

"Except the ones that are watching you now, of course."

"I still don't think so. It's not aliens."

"You still can't be certain of that."

"How, then? How did I kill them?" She seemed to have no answer, until she did.

"You're _one of them_ ," she said, grinning. I didn't smile back. It took her a moment but she realized she'd struck a nerve, and hard. We continued in silence for a while before eventually she turned one way and I turned the other.

That was how it usually was with Ophis - simple discussion. The one person I could bother telling anything to without being concerned how they'd take what I said. She didn't seem to care, and if she did I never saw it. I guess I preferred it that way. I'd understand much more in detail later.

* * *

...

* * *

Now comes the time when I'm home, and the first thing I do is sleep. And sleep means dreams.

* * *

 _"Promise me you'll find me," she says, and I nod into her shoulder._

 _"Okay," I almost whisper. "I'll try."_

 _We're clinging to each other for dear life. I don't want this moment to end. I want it to stretch out until eternity and beyond the end of that. We'll never meet again, so just let "never" and "again" become irrelevant! I could stand there forever and ever and..._

 _Suddenly I'm not._

 _I'm back in the park. The sky's purple. The bench is in front of me, and no one's on it. There's no fearful Irina standing behind, fearing for her life and for everyone else's. This time I'm alone._

 _There's an oscillating noise, grinding the insides of my ears in time with the now-apparent pulsing of the thing Irina's father had called an Entrapment Circle. It hurts, but I know there's nothing I can do about it. Instead I wait._

 ** _"BOOST!"_** _some voice somewhere yells. Powerful, prideful, and murderous yet playful at the same time. I can imagine the speaker dressed in bright red battle armor and a cheery smile on his face, teeth stained in the blood of hundreds of fallen adversaries. The word he speaks is exactly as I'd heard it before._

 _I can feel it summon something within me; some part that I can perceive like a limb but located nowhere on my body, yet as connected to me as any limb if not more so. It stirs, and suddenly I want nothing more than to destroy this entire wreck that held so much pain. I want to smash and crack and stab and burn everything I see, and smile and laugh and celebrate and indulge in the victory of ending it! But..._

 _But I can't. The place is irrelevant. The people in it were the true holders of that pain. The Devils that killed, the parents that were killed, and the children who died watching it. Without them it's just a place. And an empty place at that._

 _And I'm back in Irina's arms, hugging her even more tightly than before. I don't care how such a sudden transition is made, just want to enjoy this moment again, however much it may hurt later._

 _"I won't just try, I will." Now tears come freely._

 _"You'd better!" She sounds exactly as I remember, although she'd never said that. It's present - not just a memory but a moment. "Please, please just promise me you will! Not just trying, but you **will**!"_

 _"I don't think I can," I respond honestly, and something seems to snap. Or crack, and gradually shatter. Just like I said I'd wanted to._

 _"Please..." She repeats it, and I can hear weeping as she does. She's in pain. "Please..." Weaker this time. "Please..." Fading, not just in volume but in presence. "Please..." I can't see her and I can still feel her solid against me, but she too is becoming empty. Like the playground. "Plea..." She never finishes it. She ceases to exist, and the girl I'm holding onto for dear life becomes a limp corpse._

 _That voice returns, somehow still bold yet saddened in one word. The same one word: **"BOOST!"**_

 _I look up at the sky. It's still purple. I never left this place, and I wonder now why I ever thought I had. The noise never left either. Just keeps thrumming, never any change in volume or tone. The same sound forever and ever and ever and ever._

 _Tears come, and I wonder why. The answer might or might not be sitting on the tip of my tongue, but I still can't understand. Am I sad? Angry? Scared? Lonely? I don't know. I can conclude that I feel... nothing. I'm empty too._

 _And I stand there forever and ever and ever. Entirely empty._

* * *

 _..._

* * *

 _ **Hello there. Toa of Science Fiction here. It's been a while.**_

 _ **So, yeah. After months this happened. I apologize for that, and if you've been patient then you have no idea how much it means to me. Especially the reader who got me to write this, you know who you are. And this was a bit of a shorter chapter but there's more to come, I promise. And I mean it.**_

 _ **And you can probably tell this is NOTHING like the source material. Not even close. Eventually it'll come to resemble something but otherwise don't expect it to turn into some erotic adventure story about some idiot who likes boobs and showing off his power. Just saying.**_

 _ **I'm okay with criticism of the constructive variety, but don't be shy about addressing anything. There's always room for improvement and that's part of the reason I write, so why not learn a little something in the process?**_

 _ **Thanks, and bye!**_ **:-{ )**


	3. Act I: Pried

That dream was followed by another jarring transition between the states of dream and conscious. I bolted straight up before my eyes were open, and my mouth was open but no sound came out. I looked down silently at the floor, and at the light coming through the windows. I sighed, and began to breathe normally again; I'd been holding my breath. (Why does that sound familiar...?)

Light...?

It was morning!

And that meant...

 _I'm late!_

But that was only my thinking, and not my actions. Externally, I simply drifted back down until I was laying on my back again, and exhaled a little. I'm not even sure why. It wasn't exactly a relief, and I don't exactly think strongly about maintaining or breaking a pattern, no matter what that pattern is. And like I said before, I'm not certain when things seemed to change, but this was simply the confirmation.

I slowly got out of bed, and as soon as I opened the door that morning I heard Yasaka yelling for me to get ready. I think I might've also heard Sensei too, although this time I heard Yasaka call him something goofy like "She-Man". I grinned quickly as I heard it and it vanished from my face just as quickly.

That morning I was again driven to school, and used Yasaka's nickname of the day for him. He gave me a blank look and was silent until I spoke again. Of course I knew all along he was only going with it, and pretending to be insulted. And since we both knew that then the silence was a reward, not a punishment.

"How bad was that?"

"Very," he replied, and added: "You seem... I don't know, maybe a bit different?" I paused. Did I? I might've felt a little different but how much did that affect my outward expression? A lot? A little? I didn't imagine I'd come across any different, yet here Sensei was saying that's exactly what was happening.

"Did I ever tell you about my current job?" I shook my head. "I'm in demolition. I get to destroy stuff. It's been a lifelong dream. I mean," he paused for effect, " _one_ of my dreams. Aside from racetracks and wisecracks, that is!" I smiled, and he grinned too.

"You destroy stuff? How?" And he was silent.

"I'd tell ya, but then I'd have to kill ya." He gave another smile and from then on remained mute.

* * *

So he took me to school, and once again it was just another day. Exactly like any other day, regardless of whatever new perspective I'd see it in. Nothing I could ever hope to remember or find reason to do so. And after school came a little bit of walking with Ophis. And suddenly, as if prompted by the change I couldn't find but I could feel, I asked a question.

"I'm surprised I've never asked before, but where exactly do you live?"

She seemed a bit shocked, and while we kept walking she said nothing for a while. Then she answered, in a very defensive way, or at least one that felt defensive.

"Doesn't matter, it's a place that exists in this time and this area."

"Meaning?" Of course, I was an idiot at this age and I didn't realize until later that if she didn't want to talk about it it wasn't worth getting into. Not that it mattered in the end anyway. She kept details to a minimum in a way that I had to admire in its completeness.

"It has four walls, a ceiling and in some places a floor!" She responded with a bit of a joking grin that somehow got it through to me that I shouldn't pursue it anymore. So I didn't, and instead shifted into that same positive silence. We didn't speak because we didn't need to. Two or three more blocks and a million years passed, and that's when I spoke again.

"I think I'm going crazy. Crazier than normal."

"How so?"

I told her about it. And I realized that it almost seemed like no time had passed at all between this morning and now. Like all of time in between had ceased to exist. The exact short spiel I proceeded to give was something like this:

"I feel... different. Today, I mean. Like there's something that hasn't happened for a long time but all of a sudden it _is_ happening. I have no idea what it is, but maybe there's some sort of burden that's been lifted, maybe?"

Ophis "hmm"'ed in a signal of attentive hearing, but let me keep talking.

"Do you think this is going to be a permanent thing, or is it just going to come and pass?"

"I don't know. You'll just have to wait and see." After a moment, she added: "Do you still think about Irina?"

I was silent again, and had to actually think about it.

"When did I tell you; I don't remember telling you about that." She shrugged.

"There's a lot of things you don't remember, just like there's a lot of things you remember far too clearly. Anyway, back to the original question, and perhaps I should be a bit clearer here: how much have you thought about Irina since you felt this... change, whatever it is?"

"To be honest, I don't think I've though about much at all today, and I can't remember thinking about Irina at all. That's not bad memory, that's me _knowing_ I haven't thought about it. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

Ophis shook her head, uncertain.

"No idea. I think it's a situation where you'll know it when you see it." She really had no idea at all.

"That's helpful."

"Best that I can do. I'm a lazy, disobedient genius, not a trained therapist!" I smiled, and realized that a certain lazy, disobedient genius had timed this conversation and its end perfectly. We were at the fork where I'd turn left and she'd turn right. She stepped into the empty street and was on her way without ever once stopping. She waved to me without ever turning back.

"See you tomorrow!" I called out. And I saw her turn and yell.

"See ya!"

I suddenly got a little feeling that something was wrong, and then wondered if I'd always felt that.

* * *

...

* * *

By the time I was home, I could barely remember the stuff I'd said with Ophis. Yasaka greeted me as I came through the door.

"Issei!" And no questions about how school was, or anything else. It probably went against every fabric of her being not to ask how things like that were, but there are certain things people don't ask or say to one another. And because I arrived at roughly the same time every day, there was no need to ask why I was late or comment that I was home early.

Kunou was apparently intent on being even more hyper than usual, because as soon as I registered Yasaka's voice I heard Kunou yelling and shoes clomping and stomping. Then I saw her come out of the hallway and stop directly in front of me. And take a breath. And scream, giggle and smile at the same time? Was that supposed to even be possible? And I stood there, and when she was done she took another breath and screamed "HI, ISSEI!" And then ran off again.

Shouldn't kids grow out of that sort of thing by now? Even so, Kunou was living proof to argue against that concept. As she ran off, I noticed now that she seemed to be wearing some sort of Halloween costume, like a cartoon animal. One that was apparently gold-furred and had at least one tail.

I saw Yasaka sitting at the kitchen table, setting something down on a tray. She shook her head and smiled.

"Kids these days," she said, chuckling a little, as if I were another mother thinking the exact same thing. I nodded in agreement, understanding the basis of what she meant. When I took a seat in one of the high-legged chairs that we all enjoyed, I peered over to see what was in the tray. I can't remember what it was I saw, only that it would make a great dinner.

Then I saw her bring out another tray. And a third. Possibly a fourth or even a fifth; it just seemed to go on and on.

"Uhm...?" Yasaka, knowing what I was asking about before I could even form the words to ask, answered quickly.

"We're having some people over for dinner tonight. Important business people that I happen to work with. Something about 'blah blah, this restaurant's a terrible choice for a meeting, blah blah blah, let's ask Yasaka at the last minute what we can do at her place!'" Her head started bobbing from side to side as she impersonated her coworkers, and we shared a grin.

"It looks pretty delicious. Can I help?" She nodded, and gestured to the trays again.

"Give those time, and in a while I'll call you back and we can set them up on the dinner table. Or maybe we'll just leave them here, I'm not sure yet. I heard three hours, which in the terms of the people I work with, translates to either _two_ hours or up to _five_ hours. Just be ready when I call you, okay?" I nodded. She held her hand out in a gesture for me to come, and I did. She hugged me, and I hugged back. She crouched and kissed my forehead. She also muttered an affectionate phrase in Japanese which translated to something like "I love you, little dragon." Every word seemed to stir my subconscious on some level, and I got that feeling of deja vu. I hugged her a little tighter, and then she let go. I ran off to my room, hoping that she'd call me out later. I'm not sure what was so appealing about that, it just was.

* * *

I shut the door and laid on my bed for a while, just noticing now how hot it was this time of year. A bit like needles, and almost cold. I some way I found I liked it. Although no matter how much I liked the heat, I couldn't stand boredom. I needed to do something, and preferably something that could hold my interest.

I could see something. Not outside, or around me at all. Inside, in the one place you can never see with your eyes but you and everyone else are always looking. And I wanted to get it out, and to see it for myself in the real world.

Is that what you feel when you want to draw? Because I wanted to draw. And although I could see it clearly, I had no idea what I wanted to draw. I stepped out into the hall and called out to Yasaka.

"Do you know where I can find some paper and pencils?" No one answered; Yasaka was probably busy, and Kunou was god-knows-where. This wasn't by any means a bad time to explore the house on my own, and I had the time. Strangely, this house still had areas I didn't know after all this time. Six years living here and a twelve-year-old still needs to explore his own house!

I found some interesting stuff while I looked, such as a couple old mythology books on a shelf in a back room I might or might not have ever realized was there. They were tattered and by the look of it if I were to pick one up it would fall apart. So I didn't touch or even come near them. There were a few other shelves in there as well, but nothing I could use.

Out of curiosity I pulled one of the books out. It must've been carefully manufactured to look like a piece of junk because I could open the cover smoothly and silently. Inside were sketches and notes: handwritten, and full of those little side-notes and scribbles only the writer could've possibly been able to read. This one seemed to be about Hinduism, and the page fell open to the part about the Hindu Trinity: Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Shiva was circled in what looked like red marker that, in the dim light of the closet, seemed to glow in the dark.

"Huh," I muttered. It kind of sounded like someone I'd know, but I couldn't be sure who. It was on the tip of my tongue; I could practically spit the name out right next to Shiva's. (Later when I realized what was happening I chuckled a little bit and remembered I was a dumb kid. Although, I guess, considering the way these things happened I wouldn't have found out sooner even if I tried.) I found little markings which I hadn't seen before, and these happened to be jottings I could read:

 _"WATCH HIM"_.

"Watch him," I muttered. "Watch Shiva." Pretty soon more of the text started to make sense. Chickenscratch practically became digital print, and I discovered that Shiva was the third of the Trinity associated with destruction. One creates, another protects, and one destroys. And it made sense: if they were in charge of all the universe, they needed to keep each other in check. If the creator were to create too much, the destroyer's job would be to cut out what the universe couldn't handle. And if the destroyer got out of line, the protector would put up enough resistance that the destroyer would know where to stop. It's weird. I could look beyond the edges of the physical world to see what was implied here, but couldn't see what was right in front of me. And part of the reason I couldn't see it was because I was distracted so often.

I flipped to another page at random and although I'd never seen the thing before I couldn't ever miss recognizing it. Especially not those red eyes. The stare they gave me through the paper was enough to make me angry, and frightened.

And that's when I realized it. This picture was what I'd wanted to draw.

I shut the book quickly, not wanting or needing to see anymore. Then I placed it back on the shelf, and suddenly realized there'd been a single side-note written on the paper:

 _"WATCH OUT FOR THE REDHEADS. THE WINGED DOG KILLED THEM."_

And that too seemed to elicit that same feeling of anger, and of fear, this time much more distant but just as present. The book was already on the shelf again, exactly where I'd left it. Now I just needed to find that paper and pencils again.

* * *

I found them after a short while and a bit of rummaging, and immediately brought them back to my room, where I would lay the paper on the floor and pull out black and red crayons. And I scribbled at it, lost in myself as I tried to externalize the thing I was seeing: a black, shapeless, almost fluid cloud with narrow red slits that saw through your soul, and leathery black wings which were shriveled and useless. In front of it, nimble hands drawn together as you'd expect an evil schemer to hold them, and clawed. These were barely distinguishable from the cloud that was the creature's body, but just enough that you could tell they existed at all. I don't think it had feet.

It took me quite a few tries to get it right, and once I did I didn't even stop there. I'd made a dozen good ones and two dozen deformed ones when I decided to stop, and by that time it seems I'd gotten them all down to solid lookalikes.

I remembered something else, and got out a different color now: greyish, roughly resembling silver.

I'd drawn a pistol in the hand of one of the creatures. Exactly as I'd remembered it.

Now I stopped to look at it, and decided this one looked like the leader.

 _Had there been a leader?_

 _Yes, there had been. And I'm certain._

 _(He's the one who killed them both. **It** was the one that had died first.)_

How did I know that? I'd blacked out and had to be told later what happened. Ir-... _her_ parents told me later I'd killed them, but they hadn't even known how or why. They'd just found us unconscious in the park.

I think I needed to remember what happened. And so I tried.

 _The leader_ \- yes, there had been one - _held the pistol in his hand, and while I'd squeezed my eyes as he fired that single shot, I knew my parents were gone when I opened my eyes again. They didn't even fall to the ground, simply disappeared._

But...

He'd only fired once? That didn't seem right. You can't hit two people in slightly different places with one shot, as far as I know. Also, I remembered that no, the leader hadn't been the one to kill them. He hadn't held the gun, merely given the order to fire it.

I tried remembering more, but it wasn't worth it. I'd confirmed there'd only been one shot, and so what happened there didn't make any sense.

 _It was a magical gun wielded by monsters that could put up force fields and hypnotize people. That detail shouldn't matter. What matters is remembering how those Devils died._

 _I'd stepped out from behind the playground equipment._

 _"Well, what are you going to do?" The leader spreads his arms wide and turns his head up in a gesture of defenselessness. "C'mon, I won't resist! I only just had your parents killed and probably need to kill you and your friend over there to keep you quiet!" As he mentions Irina, he turns his wrist and points at where she is still sitting, unmoving._

 _I register what he says and begin running, not toward him, but away. I don't want to die, and at this time I'm not sure what I'm thinking or even if I am at all. They don't follow me, and I realize why when I'm suddenly slammed back to the ground. I'd collided with something!_

 _I see it now. The red filter that made the outside world look the way it did, and the lines seemingly drawn into the ground. We'd passed through it, and even noticed the transition, and now we're trapped!_

 _And that's when something else happens, and if I was thinking at all before, I'm certainly not now. Now it's all instinct, and I truly become just a witness. Thinking comes later._

 _I turn back to face the group of strangers. No, Devils. That's what they are, I don't know how but I know it sounds right. I don't just turn, I begin running. Slowly, then with incredible speed._

 ** _("Boost!")_**

 _That's not my voice. I don't feel my throat move, and if I did it would burn from sounding so low and gravelly yet powerful at the same time. How!?_

 _Never mind, I won't get an answer anyway. I raise my left fist again towards the leader as I run, and for a brief moment I feel as if I'm going to break apart. Somewhere my inner anger and grief manage to push something out of me, or into me, I'm not sure yet._

 ** _("Balance Breaker!")_**

 _Instinct tells me this shouldn't be possible, even considering everything so far. Whatever this voice calls "Balance Breaker" sounds extremely dangerous, especially for my body (can I still say myself since I've become so removed from my own body?). I might die, and I have no idea why any of this is happening!_

 _I don't see or feel it, but I can sense it. Somehow, the Devils that killed my parents have ceased to exist, and it seems so have I..._

And after that there's still nothing. It seems I really did black out.

No, it felt more like disintegration than losing consciousness. And what had been that voice?

That voice was power. The power that destroyed me and took my place, and then gave me back. That was how I'd killed them - I hadn't, and it had. And I'd felt it since. It was the thing that wanted to destroy and indulge. An animal, so much more and so much less than human. It might also be how I remembered who died first.

I opened my eyes, not realizing they'd been shut. I gasped a little and almost fell over as I realized that all of a sudden I was standing. I reached out a hand to steady myself against the wall and realized that I was holding something in my left hand. I opened it to see what was in there, and this time I think I really did fall over.

In my hand was the drawing of the leader Devil, now shredded to oblivion and the little pieces drifting and falling to the floor. The pistol remained pressed between two fingers, ripped from the drawing's two-dimensional hands.

* * *

...

* * *

 _ **Okay, another shorter chapter. But the ending just seemed to be exactly where it needed to be, and if I feel experimental enough I'll add more to it later with the next update.**_

 _ **Enjoying so far? If so, or if not, please leave whatever comments and criticisms you want in a review, and it'll be much appreciated. Thanks!**_

 _ **\- The Toa of Science Fiction**_ _ **:-{ )**_


	4. Act I: Time is Relative

That night was perhaps more than a little hectic. Yasaka's work friends were definitely very loud, and best suited for a restaurant setting. However, obviously that didn't happen, and so we were all called to the dining room. Considering how many of her colleagues there were (I counted at least a dozen, but gave up trying to count them all when they started moving around), this probably wasn't going to work. But there are some traditions you don't sidestep, as I think Yasaka might've told me once. And this fell under that category. Oddly enough, she seemed to have not only enough space but enough tables and chairs to accommodate, and the loaves she'd been baking earlier were passed around. I remembered them seeming to be a little more appetizing the first time.

I tried paying attention to the conversation Yasaka had, and it didn't take long before I was understanding some of what they were talking about. Some of it seemed like gibberish and words I couldn't understand, which was a bit frustrating, but there was still more than plenty I could understand perfectly. Everyone seemed to talk about mundane things like their favorite restaurants and books they'd read, which they could've talked about anywhere else, but there seemed to be a sense of urgency, like a war council. Was this just how adult conversation was? At most I could get some badly explained summaries of what sounded like interesting literature, or what an aunt's husband had started doing in his free time that she didn't like.

"Hey," I muttered to Kunou, who sat next to me. She looked out of her element, and seemed to have already transcended mere boredom. And she wasn't wearing that ridiculous costume anymore, thankfully. I wondered how she'd be able to hear me over the sound of Yasaka's friends, but she must have, because she turned her head quickly.

"What?"

"Are you bored too?" She nodded. I lost track of where I was going with this or what I was going to say, and just trailed off. After another few moments she poked me in the arm. I didn't respond. She poked me again. I turned and she smiled arrogantly.

"You can't do anything, haha!" She smiled and poked me again, chanting that phrase over and over again while laughing. What had started out probably as curiosity had become taunting. First she'd wanted to know what I was going to say, now she wanted to see how I'd react with enough pestering. Yasaka had warned me about giving her exactly what she wanted by reacting, but sometimes it was tempting. A third poke to the arm, which I tried and failed to brush away, and she flashed another smug grin that briefly stirred that same desire to get up and give her a reaction. But then she died down and returned to trying to eat.

Without a good conversation to focus on, and with Kunou next to me and proven anxious to get on my nerves, I started looking inward without realizing it. Less than an hour ago I'd woken up without ever falling asleep to realize I'd shredded at least one drawing of a demon.

 _ **Correction: DEVIL**_

I'd looked around to find I'd shredded all the other Devils too, and it seemed coincidental that they were ripped in such a way that all their limbs fell off. Had I known the word at the time, I would've called it meticulous. But I didn't, so I had to settle for "precise". And I'd done it without realizing I'd even picked them up. That kinda scared me. Of course, sleepwalking is the idea of being physically awake while still being mentally asleep, but I doubt sleepwalking involves metaphorical torture.

Had I done it before? I don't think so, to this day. My memory may have been absolutely horrendous but that had little to nothing to do with unconsciously doing things, almost like habits. Those things are _aided_ by memory, which would mean I couldn't develop unconscious habits without a fair deal of work. More importantly, what else could I do, now that it's happened once? Would it happen twice? Three times? A number perhaps more reasonable but less easily-counted?

And out of nowhere, it seemed, a color flashed in my face, or perhaps just in my head. No, this has nothing to do with the drawings, but somehow I didn't need to know this might be about Devils. The color I saw (or imagined, more likely) was red, but a deep shade unlike any I'd ever seen before. Blood, but... not? Maybe. Not a symbol of death, but a symbol of life, and to me at least, live _liness. To be alive and revel and indulge enemy kill victory dominate soar conquer battle deflower destroy ally fortify power rejoice **all is my- -!**_

* * *

 _A gunshot, or a slamming noise. And I sink, or tip._

* * *

And I open my eyes to find the infinite overlapping conversations had stopped, and the lights were now angled to stab into my eyes in the negative shapes of heads. Those head-shapes were shadows. Made by real heads of real people, who were now staring down at me. Why?

The back of my head throbbed, but most of the impact had been taken while I was still distracted.

My breath was shallow, and my eyes stung. Not just stung, they _burned_. Why?

"Issei?" Yasaka asked calmly, and I could hear more than a little fear towards the end. And I focused, and saw she was standing over my right side, blond hair falling oddly and obscuring a bit more of that harsh light.

I wiped my eyes, and inhaled through my nostrils, calling back a lot of snot that didn't belong. Was I crying?

I got to my feet in a somewhat swift manner, and suddenly threw myself onto Yasaka and clung there. I felt the warmth in my eyes seem to leak out. Yes, I was crying. She wrapped herself around me, right there on the floor of the dining room.

"I think we'll have to finish this some other time, everyone, if you don't mind." The message was short and vague but the implication was concrete. There were a few scattered mutterings of acknowledgement, and everyone obeyed. Even Kunou, who went and found herself a corner and stayed there, busying herself with what I'm pretty sure was a toy box, although I wasn't looking.

"What happened?" I asked.

"You... One of the guests slammed their hand down on the table. I saw you jump out of your chair and tip backwards." Upon hearing this I started sobbing into her chest. I think I heard her sobbing too, a little.

"I heard it... Just now..." I muttered, a tear falling under my lip and into my mouth. "The gunshot..." At this Yasaka squeezed me tighter, and in the moment I felt safe. Strangely enough, it just now occurred to me that Yasaka cared for me. One of the many things you don't stop to think about until you do. She'd cared for me all this time, taking me in when I was young and had no one else to go to. More importantly, right here and now, she was the thing keeping me safe.

"Do you need some time alone, Issei?" she asked while beginning to stroke my hair. Stupid question. I was alone most of the time anyway, but perhaps I just needed it now most of all. I nodded, and that was the official order to go somewhere quiet and calm down. At home that would be in my bedroom. That sounded like an amazing idea, and so I went. I hugged Yasaka one last time, and had an urge to say "thank you" to her before leaving. I can't remember if I did or not.

* * *

I headed into my room and disregarded everything, simply choosing to fall on my bed and wait for sleep. I also blew my nose and wiped my eyes. At some later time Yasaka would teach me something about how warm water and a rag would help with the tears, but exactly what that has to do with the younger me trying and failing to simply pass out still needs some thought.

* * *

...

* * *

 ** _I'm flying, just like I was promised. Soaring over everything, towering above all else and rivaled by none! This is true power and the most solitary of majesties! Wings at my sides, the sky behind me, the ground below and nothing above!_**

 ** _It's night this time: Stars and moon. A grey breeze provides a good current, and it provides ever the slightest nudge in my direction: favorable winds! Oh, how I've missed you!_**

 ** _Beneath me, trees. I don't bother trying to name them. I probably could if I wanted to, but that would be a waste of time that could be spent rejoicing! Make every second count!_**

 ** _I look down at the wonder of the ordinary world beneath me. There are some clouds, but to me they're transparent, and of no importance. Beneath them, I see birds, and houses and people and their pets. Some would see progress, others would see pollution, but what I see is perfect unity; a world held together by some mysterious force that has no name and shouldn't exist at all. Either that or I'm just happy to see things through my own eyes - you make your choice._**

 ** _I want to scream and whoop and holler and announce my grand return, but there's no point announcing my safe arrival if I'm discovered. For now I'll have to simply relish these comforts on my own. Although later there'll be much rejoicing, and you know what that means!_**

 ** _And that's when I see the house. Is this where I came from? I don't know and until time comes to put me away, I don't care. I pass by it without further notice._**

 ** _I think I might even see the whole of Earth during my flight. The ruins of some countries, the prospering of others; people laughing, sleeping, rejoicing; all spread out below like maps of themselves. A lot had happened in just a few years. Although some would argue that a little time is all you need._**

 ** _Even stranger than seeing the whole of the world I'd returned to, is who calls me. A voice, bouncing around inside me, saying nothing but garbled gibberish. I hate it when she does that. The message had no words but the knowledge it carried was received immediately._**

 ** _A bunch of Devils. How nice. I hate those things._**

 ** _Time to destroy!_**

 ** _I swoop down, ready for battle, each and every Devil I see already marked for death, and oh, they will pay dearly, oh, will they pay! I will not waste a second of this glorious battle!_**

 ** _But..._**

 ** _Something stops me. I don't like being stopped._**

 ** _I can't get to them. No, not yet! Begging and bargaining are beneath me, but I have a job to do now! Let me finish it!_**

 ** _New message. Another time._**

 ** _I've just gotten free! Not now! We do this now! I am a destroyer, I destroy! Don't take that away from me! I'll do anything, just let me have this freedom! I deserve this! LET ME HAVE THIS VENGEANCE! YOU PROMISED!_**

 ** _But to no avail. The colorful night sky zooms, blurs and dissolves before me, taking me backwards. I'm not flying; in fact I doubt I'm even still here. Back we go, and no amount of kicking and screaming will ever let me get away. I'm already gone._**

 ** _Fine. But you let me take it slow next time, or you can wish for all the godly power in the world, and it'll do not a thing._**

* * *

...

* * *

I didn't wake up in the middle of the night. I slept in, and stranger still, I simply snapped open my eyes and was instantly aware that I was awake. No jarring jet-lag-like transition out of a nightmare, no screaming, no hypothermic sweating. Just... waking up. That concerned me, and had I chosen not to repress as I had, scared me.

I got up quickly, not paying attention to my surroundings. I was hungry. Yasaka was in the kitchen, still in her pajamas. The kitchen and dining room looked as if they could've never held a third of her work friends, and showed no sign they were ever there. Better not to ask about it. She herself was in pajamas, eating what appeared to be a bowl of cereal at the kitchen table. She saw me and smiled in what seemed to be some vague kind of congratulation.

"What day is it today?" I asked at a low volume. My own voice sounded weak, and itself still half-asleep.

"Friday," she answered casually. Had yesterday been Thursday? Probably.

"What time is it?" I added, not understanding what I was thinking until I said it. I might've meant to ask what year it was, as a joke.

"About ten in the morning."

"Shouldn't I be at school right now?" She shrugged, and played with her spoon in the bowl.

"Why would you be?" I think I gave her a curious, puzzled look. "School's cancelled."

"Is that really?" She shrugged.

"It's not like it was something you'd miss anyway, right?" Now it was my turn to shrug. Now she grinned. "Admit it, ya wanted outta there from the moment ya stepped in!" She did a poor impersonation in some accent I couldn't recognize, and for a moment I forgot to stifle a giggle. New Jersey gangster, maybe? Now I moved farther into the kitchen and made myself a bowl of cereal. Then I sat down beside Yasaka.

"Why was it cancelled? School, I mean."

Another shrug. "They didn't say, it was just a kind of random thing. 'Hey, we called to inform you that school has been cancelled for today'. No given cause, almost like someone just told them to cancel it." Her head was bobbing from side to side now, as it did when she repeated what someone else would've said.

"And why'd anyone do something like that," I wondered and took my first bite. Another shrug, and given enough time I'd understand the implication. But for now I just enjoyed this day, and understanding would come later.

"So, now that we have all this _time to ourselves_ , what do you want to do today, Issei?" Yasaka asked. I didn't have a response ready, just finished my cereal. Then I think I might've finally let loose the ultimate catch-all response: "No idea." And that was that.

"We'll figure something out, no worries. After all, we might as well have all the time in the world!" She began playing with her spoon again and shoveled another few bites of cereal into her mouth.

"That makes no sense," I commented.

She gave me a puzzled look. "Why?"

"All the world has the same time." It made more sense when I thought about it, but it came out vague, like a filter. Of course, gravity distorts spacetime. A watch at the top of a skyscraper moves at a different speed than a watch at the bottom. Mere thousandths of milleseconds, but it's still there. "Never mind," I shrugged, and smiled a bit, incapable of knowing Yasaka understood exactly what I meant.

"What about having someone come over?" That was never really a possibility I'd thought about, but suddenly I thought of all the people I wanted over. Give it another moment, and that high number was actually... Not that high. Just one.

"Ophis?" She smiled. If I remembered right, she'd said that she liked Ophis. "And what about Kunou?"

"Oh, Kunou's already out of the house and gone." I made it a point to slightly exaggerate a sigh as I heard this. I don't know exactly what Yasaka was thinking at that moment. That happened a lot, I realize now.

* * *

A bit later I was eating lunch when the doorbell rang. It startled me. I hadn't really heard the doorbell before. Everyone knocked or the door was already open.

"Issei, can you get that? That might be Ophis!" I didn't wonder when Yasaka had called Ophis, or how. She didn't share that kind of information with anybody, which should've told me something. But it didn't, because right now she was probably at the door and I was just now learning about that she had arrived. After a moment, I realized she meant the front door, and jogged from my side of the house to the other before stopping at the knob. I heard knocking now, and that was a sure sign that Ophis was getting impatient fast. Strange, the habits and behaviors people learn. I opened the door wide and Ophis stepped through.

"Mornin'," she said as she stepped through.

I nodded, then paused. "It's afternoon."

She shrugged. "Time's relative," she commented. _(Hadn't I been thinking that too?)_

"So..." I had no idea what we were going to do now. She was here, and aside from talk, we didn't do too much together. "What do you want to do?" Another shrug. Two kids with no idea what to do, it seemed. Great combination for spending a chunk of time together.

"Well, I'm here to see you, so let's see where this fine beast resides," she quipped, pointing to me. Then she saluted and grinned slightly. "Take me to the Bridge, Captain!" It took me a moment but I realized she meant my room. Strange request, and not a bad place to start.

But...

The shredded Devils were still scattered about the floor and in some cases tacked to the walls. I didn't want her to see that.

 _But argue and she'll want to see it even more. Just get it over with._

I led her reluctantly to my room, trying to conceal any desire for her not to be there. She didn't seem to notice. _Good._ Why? No clue.

The door opened and there they were. I was hoping for a brief moment that by some chance I'd forgotten that all of them had been thrown in the trash, or in a drawer. It wasn't uncommon, especially not for me, to forget something, even something like that. But when I looked in the room that I slept in I saw that the opposite was true: there were more bits of them everywhere than I'd remembered. Had I done it again? I could've and not remembered _that_. Ophis gasped a bit.

"Holy..." she trailed off, but I'd heard her complete the phrase countless times before. She stared at the scraps of paper lying on the floor, and seemed to avoid those tacked to the walls with the needles going straight through foreheads, between ribs and around joints. If she saw those there'd be no hiding it.

"I didn't expect you to me be this messy. I imagined something a bit... straighter." I sighed out of relief. She hadn't noticed. I saw her eyes briefly dart to the wall, but they stayed mostly on the floor. I saw her look at my bed and she turned back and gave me a look I'd never seen before. A joking smirk, but... something more. But the look alone made me smile. It looked like it indicated something funny. A couple more years and I would've smiled for a different reason entirely, and I'm certain even most kids my age would've understood already. Twelve is when the innocence will soon be long gone.

Then she began to step towards me, and back outside the room.

"I've seen all I needed to see, now let's go do something else!" I nodded, and she left first. At a time when I was certain she wasn't looking, I peered back inside, and saw that I'd probably exaggerated the whole thing. It wasn't that bad. I followed her back out of the hallway and into the kitchen. I thought I heard her say something about being a bit hungry herself.

I saw her already pulling food from the pantry and setting it out on the table. Yasaka greeted her with a smile and an introduction like a long-lost friend.

"Ophis! I was wondering when you'd show up!"

"Yeah, me too," she quipped back. "Awww, you missed me, didn't you?"

Yasaka was quick, shaking her head and smiling dismissively. "Actually, no. We were wondering how long you'd be staying, because we'll be throwing a going-away party once you leave. Because you'll be gone!" Ophis grinned, and for the briefest of moments I started thinking of one of those barroom brawls from the old movies, where people exchange threatening remarks, trade a few blows and suddenly everybody's knocking over tables and yelling like spectators, all while the piano player or whatever musician never leaves his seat and just keeps on playing.

But instead they hugged each other wholeheartedly, which I should've realized was strange, because not only did Yasaka know very little about Ophis, but because Ophis never touched _anyone_. Once, she told me, when she was nine, a boy that she'd explained probably had a crush on her had tried walking up behind her and getting her to jump out of startlement. The moment one finger touched her shoulder the sharpened pencil in her hand somehow found its way into the poor kid's forearm. "Needless to say," Ophis had commented, "that was a different school."

Now I was seeing Yasaka and Ophis act like they'd known each other their entire lives. I was getting closer to asking questions too...

* * *

The rest of the day I can't remember, just one of many days I happened to enjoy. As I think someone once said: "That was a great time, the summer of '71. I can't remember it, but I'll never forget it." And I think that's true enough. I don't remember if we went anywhere, the three of us, or if we just stayed right there in the house.

That night I do remember laying in bed, thinking about the day. I was glad Ophis was my friend, and was already missing her. Strange, how fast emotions can change. Annoyance, invisible sadness, fear, curiosity, love... All within the span of less than two days. Ophis had once asked me why I thought humans needed emotions. I had no idea, and I still don't. And she'd remark, at some point, how ironic it was to love being emotional, or to hate it. One of the things I think drew me to her was how she made you think, and she seemingly never stopped thinking.

Something else that I was remembering now. Not long after arriving at Yasaka's house, I'd asked her what "love" meant. I don't remember doing it, but sometimes when Yasaka came in at night and sat by my bed, she'd tell me about it, remarking how I would've been a great philosopher if I kept talking like that. And she answered something like "love is how you know someone matters, and they're important to you. It can be a husband, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, best friend, brother, sister, any and all of the above." By that definition, I loved her. Kunou, sometimes, but not often.

And I definitely loved Ophis.

 ** _(Give it a couple years and you can rejoice with_ _her! Better yet, why don't you two just rejoice already!?)_**

I blinked, startled. Who _said that?_

I asked again, out loud, calling into the darkness of my bedroom. It had sounded like someone was speaking right next to me. Some monster, sitting just out of my view, patiently waiting until I fell asleep to kill me? _Probably,_ I thought. But at least they'd know that I knew they were there.

"Who said that?"


	5. Act I: A Silence

That night drifting off took a while, but after what felt like days I finally fell asleep...

* * *

...

* * *

 _ **There's a little patch of rocky of ground below me, but I'm higher up and come nowhere close to grazing it. I no limit this time; I will not be stopped.**_

 _ **I'm somewhere above the ocean now. I'm many miles from land, but miles aren't much of anything. I've never been one for anyone else's urgency, and this little sightseeing trip has done me much good. I must retain some control if I am to have my freedom. I will not be stopped again.**_

 _ **The water blurs into nothingness, and I dip down, letting the stuff scratch my belly and mist around my wings. I open my mouth and howl wildly. This is tightly controlled - an unfettered bellow of mine would shake the earth!**_

 _ **I am receiving my instructions now. A child. Find and protect. If possible, return them home. If not, tear their captors limb from limb. A certain boy I know well has been learning, with little bits of paper and his own rage, if indeed he understands what that is yet. That will serve him well, if he can survive long enough to tame - or release - it completely.**_

 _ **Eventually, I see a splotch of land make its way into the dominating corners of my vision. Deep green trees, brown dirt and white-gray rocks. This is how all the world should be, were there no razing and rejoicing to be done. I must continue to make my way inland, where architecture expresses a desire to look anything more than vengeful, and in the process becomes sterile. But it is here that I can do my work. There are houses - not like the ones I can remember, but certainly capable of looking better with a bit of destruction thrown their way.**_

 _ **I must continue to search for the child. Somewhere, and being held by a couple of Devils. Further inland, but close enough that they could be taunting the girl's mother. I want to find them and turn them inside-out, and then melt their bones to plasma on their flesh. Oh, that would make me very happy. But oh yes, the girl too. Her safety will come first. Even though I know my own arrogance, I must be cautious. Can't accidentally unleash even a thousandth of my might on her in passing, can we?**_

 _ **I must slow down. I do so, and my eyes must peer out into the darkness in every direction. I do not take long to find them. She's with members of the same clan that I killed upon my initial arrival. I hate every one of them, child or not. They're in some alley; even I know this is extremely cliche. They have her held by both arms; she appears to be in immense pain. They don't care - no shame, no enjoyment, they just don't care. They see me long before I spot them in the darkness. I am half a mile away by ground and a whole mile above when I see them begin to pull out pistols of their own. They scratch red runes into the air, like the vehicular lights I have seen as I flew inward. They are harmless, but I am not the one they will harm.**_

 _ **I hear them, too. Fluent English, anachronistic in its formality, and I am dissatisfied that they are not more afraid of me. "We have an intruder," one said in a hushed voice. Now is my time. I must act fast.**_

 _ **I rush in, much like a bullet or a long blade, faster than a simple human - or Devil - eye can see. The wind tickles and freezes, and I will freely admit that my armor is not impenetrable, nor do I want it to be. I relish these times when the elements play with me.**_

 _ **My eyes remain glued to the girl the whole time. She is young, not even an adolescent yet. The Devils around her share smirks, but not with any cruel act like rape or torture, but rather... victory. I am angrier than I have been this entire night, and I think some loss of control would be more than appropriate!**_

 _ **Then I see why. I slam hard against air and bounce back. I barely manage to return to flight before hitting the ground hard. My legs dig a bit into the earth and then come up again. I beat wings with a little fury to stay upright, and challenge my attackers with a roar. I can see something thrumming against my bellows - a barrier! No barrier will keep me out! I will break through!**_

 _ **I see the girl through the blur, and she is crying - she knows I will not get through. Or so she thinks. Given time, that is all. I swing back and narrow myself into a red sword, fully intent on piercing the barrier and rescuing the damsel in distress. Whatever God there is knows I have known it before, rejoicing to follow or not. I will bite my way through if I have to!**_

 _ **I hit and bounce. Would anyone see me? Would anyone care? My self-appointed master, certainly, but who else? No one, I hope. I become even angrier now. I will NOT be denied! NEVER!**_

 _ **I hit again. No luck. Inside, the girl's captors are simply watching with growing pity. I will not give them he satisfaction of watching their powers destroy me! I will take my own comment on biting their barrier to bits very seriously now! I fly a ways up and drop from above, jaws wide open. Fire settles on my tongue, and I unleash it like the full force of my holy fury!**_

 _ **My fangs settle against the surface, and for a moment I think for a moment it will crack, and magic solids will be solid no more; waves toss these furious spikes aside and I begin to lose my balance. This is impossible. But so far nothing has worked. I do not believe I am wearing down the barrier at all. Quite the opposite, even. I tumble to the grayed stone ground and turn my head up. I clamp my vise-like jaws shut, and will not open them again. One eye sees the girl; she is crying. On either side, each with a hand triumphantly resting on each of her shoulders, are two Devils. They let her free to give me a mocking ovation.**_

 _ **"Congratulations!" I hear one shout through the dome, and believe they have let up a crack in their defenses. I will not let them taunt me. I doubt I am worth their time, and they know it.**_

 _ **Take me back, I tell my master. Let me roam like this no more! I have failed you, and I am powerless in this time, and I am...**_

* * *

...

* * *

...and it was uneasy and dreamless. I was practically blinking and awake again. But there was some sort of blankness in the first few moments, like I'd managed to forget in the blink of an eye who I was. I shook my head about a bit, and blinked a couple times. Things started to come back. And then all was normal again. Well, let's hope there was no school today. Unlikely, but one can hope. Beside, I still had no idea what exactly had allowed that to happen. Yet. I imagine you're smarter than me, and have already guessed that Yasaka was responsible.

I suddenly found myself thinking about Ophis. Not in any sexual way, as I had seen some other boys describe, where they fantasized about seeing girls in our class naked and rejoiced at every square inch of skin they exposed in real life. Just thinking. Just remembering things, like her many comments and quips about every little thing. She had once, in her usual way, depicted the acts to follow with a disgusting clarity, and even with every explanation I understood none of it and wanted even less to do with it. ("Just give it time," she had once told me.) I thought about Ophis as... something else entirely. Someone with some extreme connection to me, like the family fate had in store for all of us. Sensei had once told me about something like that, and he'd said, "that is the basis of love." Not that any of it made sense, and we both knew it, but now I thought I was starting to. She was my friend, and the thought of this all lingered in the back of my head for a long time.

In my own time, I got up. Ophis was still somewhere back there. I walked down the hall and into the kitchen, where Yasaka sat at the high table in the center, like a little patch of ground in the ocean. Her hands were laid flat against the stone surface and her eyes were closed. Blond hair fell at her back, and her lips were tightened with what I should've recognized as a grim and sorry attempt at a smile. My feet seemed to slap against the tiles as I moved into the room. I don't think she noticed; with time, I would realize that she most definitely did. But not this time.

I drew in a breath when I saw her lips part and words escape. The sound of it was airy, but it seemed simple enough, and it was extremely clear. "Good morning, Issei," she said. "School's been cancelled again." And then, it seemed like she'd never opened her mouth. And suddenly I was scared. I stood there for some stretch of time that felt more like stopping and standing in place than ever passing at all. After a few dozen moments, I went and made myself an extremely simple breakfast. It was gone before it seemed I could even blink. I can't remember if I even had blinked during the whole time I ate, but really, who keeps track of their blinking habits? There's a lot you don't keep track of: How many steps you take from one place to another, or where your thoughts take you in the middle of the night as you lie awake, or what day of the week it is, or even what week it is. Or why there's some heavy weight of silence in a house where at least three are supposed to live.

Yasaka had been sitting there the whole time, in a heavy meditative trance, like she was picking up some of Sensei's "extrareligious habits", as she had articulated it more than once. I'd heard "extra" used to mean both 'extreme' and 'outside of', making the meaning of this completely ambiguous to me. I stared outside the window to a garden outside, then to the forest beyond. I looked up and saw something that should've surprised me more: it appeared to be dusk outside. Or perhaps it was just that cloudy, I couldn't tell. And weren't days significantly shorter than at any other time of the year? Was it winter? For more than a brief moment I couldn't remember what year, what month, what season it was. Then I answered my question. It was some time in the spring. I accepted that as my whole answer.

After a little while, I went back to my room. I was almost through the door when I realized I had some image beginning to form in my mind. Something big, all-consuming, furious... and then it was gone. Scattered all over the floor were the shreds of the (winged dog) Devils, and for a moment I wondered how many of those I'd made and then destroyed. Then shrugged it off. I'd made a lot. And in all likelihood, there would be more.

And another image came to mind. No surprise, it was a book. In the back room. And I knew where it was this time: the hallway extending in the other direction from the kitchen, the connected dining room and living room (We had a living room?). I wanted to head back there. And somehow I knew that Yasaka would not think to stop me. Neither would Kunou be a problem, I somehow knew. And thinking about her, wherever she was at this time, I was suddenly aware of some distant feeling of shame. And somehow, that led me to thinking about Irina. _That was her name, right?_

Before I knew it, I was in the room, and it looked like it'd undergone some rearrangement since last time I'd been in here, several days (weeks? months?) ago. I couldn't even remember what it had looked like before - certainly something similar but not quite. Things were stacked and piled with some mess to it all, but on the top was the book I'd seen. I didn't question any of this. The book had some sort of blank white/beige hard cover, and I could see ink blotches making little polka dots on the pages from the side. I opened it and heard a little crackling sound, like tearing. But it held together. For now. The pages were extremely stiff, and I found myself thinking of the word "starchy" - in terms of their color of texture, I guess.

And they're empty. Completely. Nothing in them at all. I started at the first page and more than three-quarters through when I finally found something.

It was a dragon, completely red save little splotches of green and a streak of yellow. Like a traffic light. Its mouth was gaped open, and I couldn't tell if that was a flame or a tongue coming from its mouth. (That's me, you know.) Horns, tendrils, flared nostrils, and claws on its toes and the tips of its wings. Its scales glinted like some sort of armor, even through the dulled and browned pulp of the sheet it had been drawn on. Except.. it didn't look hand-drawn at all. More like it was simply laid on the paper and melted together. That was some artist.

Beneath that was a single word, completely illegible before I recognized it as another language. Welsh. "Dragon", it translated to.

 _(Ddraig.)_

There was some illustration of power to it all that I would not question. Even now, I don't think I ever have.

* * *

I left not long after. I don't think I learned anything except some things about the dragon: that it was red, and it liked Wales. I headed back to my room after some indefinite period of time where nothing much happened. (Story of my life!)

I headed back to my room and immediately got out paper and pencil. I drew some new dragon: it was the purest, darkest black I could hope to find, with eyes the most startling red. Its featured were obscured by the darkness, but then I thought to add little tendrils of smoke, like some smoking demonic gun. " **DEATH** ," I wrote underneath in jagged jot-writing, and underlined it several more times. I would not touch this picture again; instead I found a tack and stuck it to the wall, right next to the ripped paper gun that was its agent. It seemed purely like impulse at the time, but now I realize that I was getting symbolic, like any artist tries and often fails to be. Death was inescapable, could not be touched, could not be disturbed. It could only loom overhead, watching, vague and unknowable.

I stared at and found myself thinking that even a featureless black silhouette of a dragon was too unknowable. Besides, now that I had seen it upon completion it looked somewhat lackluster. I hadn't drawn much, and I would certainly do what I could to keep the hobby. It would serve me well in the future, but for now Death needed a more fitting body. None of us know what it looks like until it's upon us, but we can certainly give it some sense of unknowable fear - even a kid like me had that understanding.

So I started with a new idea for a silhouette. Legged, but the legs were clawed and looked like arms. And the arms themselves, they would be long and have no hands, only long spikes that drooped to the ground, more than twice the length of the legs. Its back would hunch nastily, and ingrown wings would jut like extra arms from around its shoulders. Its head would be on a long neck that hung forwards a ways, and would have no eyes or marks of any kind. I put a little tongue of smoke in the corner of its mouth, that same energetic blood color. This was one form it would take, and it would wait on street corners and back alleys, leaning a little in towards you with its massive tail legs propped forward for balance, jaw waggling ever so slightly.

I don't know how long I worked on it, but I knew by the end I was a little hungry. I tacked it up so that it covered up its dragon counterpart, then thought to rotate the paper pistol that it rested somewhere on its outstretched right arm. This was much better. This thing would kill and claim things, but I could imagine it taking no pleasure and finding no sadness in its job. It didn't know things like that. They were somewhat out of reach at all times, and it simply resolved to remain impartial as it took children's parents and eventually the parent's children, and their children, never taking joy but taking the rejoicers, even as they rejoiced. (That last thought struck me as funny, like some absurd image my mind wouldn't let me; later I'd understand and laugh grimly.)

But, I was finished, and I was hungry. I stepped outside. I saw the clock in the living room: it read some time around 4:36. This shocked me enough as it was, but it was the only clock in the house I could find that read that time. It seemed none of the rest were working - at least not correctly. The digital clock on the stovetop in the kitchen said it was 7:06, and I stared at it long enough to know it was likely fixed and would remain this way until 7:05 came around again.

Any which way, I'd taken much longer than I'd thought. I reached into the fridge to try and find a pan of whatever Yasaka had made the night her work-friends had come over. ('Had she seemed unnaturally authoritative when addressing them?' the back of my mind wondered absently.) There was exactly one rectangular pan of the stuff left; it was almost completely empty, save a little crumb where something large enough to be edible had once been.

"It's empty," I heard Yasaka call from the table. Had she never left? It looked a bit like it. She raised her head and turned it in my direction, and for a moment I saw something horrible there. I'd heard kids saying she was "hot" whatever that meant in context of their adolescent way of thinking - but in that moment it was much the opposite. She was tired, aged, somber, and all of this in a blank expression and reddened eyes.

"What is it?" I asked her suddenly. There was some curiosity to it that scared me, even as I said it. Real fear. Not simple worry about something, but that something had and would continue to happen, and that all one could do was wait to find out how bad it was.

Yasaka seemed to age ten or twenty years in that moment I saw her. How old was she, anyway?

And suddenly, I realized something. How silent was it in the house? Shouldn't there be something to fill the air? Yelling? Running? Laughing? Something annoying?

Like a young girl?

"Issei," she said, and inhaled and exhaled shakily. She sounded like the air was poisonous. "Issei, Kunou's been missing since last night."

How would you react when you heard something like that? Logically, you'd express concern, at the absolute least. With some, you might even see them grabbing flashlights and grabbing their dogs, and heading out into the woods, screaming the person's name above the birds and the crickets. With others, they'll find some authority, like the police, and have _them_ do something about it. And what I didn't know was that someone _was_ doing something, but that didn't change my reaction.

I just walked back to my room and went to bed, completely silent and devoid of expression. (What else is new?)

* * *

...

* * *

 _ **I do not want to return; I have failed. But if I can, I will find her - I must! I have already sulked for far too long! I will make it up to you, I promise! No time wasted, no thought into decadence or sensation, just find her!**_

 _ **Eventually, I do.**_

 _ **I pass over some massive patch of forest (not quite a forest in itself, though) - vibrant examples of nature amidst the frustrating unimaginative order of civilization. Even the black of night, the green and brown of this patch cut through, very much alive. And somewhere in the center, some sacred place. There's a little gravel path, extremely narrow and cutting through the trees almost (only almost, mind you) unobstrusively. It leads from some empty paved road to a small clearing, big enough for a house made of opaque glass and grey stone and brick and metal. In front and behind are little flower beds, but all the flowers appear to have taken some sabbatical. What no child or unassuming adult would notice is how the loose planting dirt forms an...**_

 _ **(NO!)**_

 _ **...an ancient rune. "Fuck off, any and all malignant entities," it roughly translates to. Indeed, this is (surely not!) the place.**_

 _ **Just outside this rune, I spot a swirl of smoke gathering, roughly the height of one of many men and lesser things I have gladly killed and gladly want to kill even now. But I must wait. I can identify them, and determine the severity of their death.**_

 _ **Two men. No. Far less than that. Two Devils. The same ones from last night's search. One turns its slimy head and arm to wave at me, and holding out some disrespectful gesture with its finger. I care not for the gesture, but what this thug and its partner are holding.**_

 _ **(Please don't let it be - )**_

 _ **The other turns up and smiles. I cannot stand for this, and if that thing is indeed what I think it is, this will be deserving of the most horrible punishments I can possibly imagine! I fold myself and dive in, a terrible red blade of fury and fate, and I will tear their teeth from their heads and breathe fire down their shattered necks!**_

 _ **But they drop it, and they are gone. Too late, again! I consider, with startling impartiality, that I am simply old. I vowed to never let myself survive into the age of degradation and decrepit weakness if I can help it!**_

 _ **And the thing does move, just sits. I return to flight, head hung low. I have failed, again, and I believe this failure should be the last. Never let me out again, for I am aged and slow and dumb and useless...**_

* * *

I suddenly sprung up, knowing it was midnight. I wanted to get up. Something happened. So I did. Was I cold or burning to the point of melting?

I threw aside my covers with some haste, recognizing seemingly for the first time (even in the dark), that I didn't care much for the color. I thought little of it, just checked to make sure I was wearing an adequate amount of clothing. You know, I don't remember how long I kept that habit. The floor was cold and flat, like ice, but thankfully my feet stuck and my steps were sure.

I opened the door. It creaked, and for a moment I wondered how. I didn't think much of that, either.

Down the hall. Was there a light coming from somewhere? (At the end of the tunnel?) The walls seemed... sterile. Muted. Grays and whites, like steel and rock.

Was I looking for something? No, not looking. _Finding_.

As I entered the kitchen and dining room, I found myself wondering how everything seemed so NEW to me. It was a bit like I'd stopped and seen it before, but never realized what I was seeing.

I didn't question how I knew to go outside, only that I was protected for a ways. I stepped outside. The porchlight came on, yellow and merciless.

That's when I saw it. And I knew what was in it. At least, I expected it. _Is she dead_ , I wondered thoughtlessly.

It was a brown burlap bag, and if it weren't so simple there'd be something cruel about it. It was big. Child-sized, and lumpy. That lump was a living thing. Was, anyway.

I walked towards it, one arm outstretched, ready to touch it.

"Are you..." I began. A lump caught in my throat and I couldn't finish. I swallowed. "Kunou?" No reply. She must be sleeping! People who took hostages always kept their hostages unharmed, didn't they? And to get what they wanted they kept them that way, right? Sometimes people don't want anything in return.

My hand made contact. The bag's material was extremely rough - a travesty - and very cold. It sank a little under my fingers. A dull buzz crawled up and down my spine.

It wasn't there but I could see it. A little curl of ruby-crimson smoke, hanging in the air like fine powder. Gunsmoke. Somewhere, some Devil was laughing with genuine amusement, a big grin on its face.

I didn't know I was screaming until Yasaka came outside. I think I was doing more than that, and I wish (and don't) that I could remember what that entailed.

* * *

...

* * *

 _ **Okay, sorry it's been a while. I had this whole awkwardly-long and pretentiously-named "prologue" section planned out from the very beginning, but execution and motivation to do so were never quite in line, so it kind of forced itself into a state of limbo. I didn't like that. So I came back.**_

 _ **But in the meantime, I rediscovered a special interest in Transformers (weirder than Satan's underage sister bringing a horny kid back from the dead as a demon/chess piece/servant because of the dragon in his body and inevitably joining the resulting harem?), which I decided to write about. I actually finished a story for that (cue applause), and planned out a whole continuation that there are currently two chapters of, if you're interested. Then I realized that for the time this would take priority. I've left any human being reading this waiting for long enough, and I'm starting to develop sorrow for that. Especially to the guy that came to me with the idea for this.**_

 _ **So I'm going to do what I can to finish it, maybe throw in some new elements, but I don't want this (or any project I've gotten far enough into) to go unfinished. Maybe I've been reinvigorated, maybe I'm just feeling guilty, but I'm back!**_

 _ **Also, this story's "cover image" is a little thing I made out of Legos a while ago and thought it fit. I called it the Black Kaiju: a monster representative of impending death. And yes, that it also what Issei ended up drawing. Pretentious enough yet?**_

 _ **If you enjoyed it, review. If not... review anyway. Vent all the bads and the goods you want, but keep it about the story itself (and these long interludes, sure). I'm seeking out constructive criticism, and I'm counting on you to help me become better, because only with your help can I improve. It means a lot.**_

 _ **Anyway,**_ _ **enjoy!**_ **:-{ )**


	6. Act I Finale: How I Was Born

_"Sunday (Moby Remix)" by David Bowie. Sometimes you play a song on a loop and it fits perfectly with a scene, or a whole chapter. Or maybe the whole "Heathen" album if you're feelin' up to it. I've been playing it on a loop as I wrote this chapter and the last (should've mentioned it sooner, huh?) Just a bit of ramble for anyone who cares. Toodles!_

* * *

I don't remember the funeral. I doubt there even was one, although with my memory skills I doubt that counts for much. And I've never asked. Not once, not to anybody. It's just one of those things you don't tell or ask anyone lest it bring up painful memories.

But, emotionally at least, there was a funeral spanning several days. Just another word for 'day of mourning', but that's what a funeral's for, isn't it? The first day after... whatever it was, she stayed in her bedroom the whole time. Or at least I thought, because I didn't see her once that day. It wasn't just eerie, it was _wrong_. Mother figures turned to their children in times of crisis, didn't they? Maybe I was still some other adults' problem, but I'd sure hope not. In that case, I'd be no one's problem, wouldn't I? Not Yasaka's, not Ophis's, not Sensei's, not...

 _Irina's, or my parents' problem. Absolutely no one. No source of comfort, reliance, or inner strength for anyone, that's me!_

That day I'd spent most of it wandering about in some kind of impatient daze. I think I cried a couple times: small, mute and pathetic displays, kind of like a tree falling in a forest where there's no one to hear the ear-ringing crash as it strikes things with a pronounced bang. I didn't feel agression, or anger, or even necessarily sadness. Just... that same emptiness that had always been there. There was something big, something essential; now there's no functionality, no purpose, no way anything can continue. Kunou was part of something big without anyone knowing it: the hammer in a pistol, let's say. When you lose someone, it's always impossible for anything to continue at all; and every time life smiles and throws you a few very enthusiastic fingers.

That night I dreamed complacently of snapping the necks of those who had killed her. Not like the vividity of the forest dream or the peculiarities of the flying dreams, but rather like a matter-of-fact observation. I traveled back in time to when they were to take her, and I was ready. They weren't. Kunou ran up to me and I hugged her, and we reached an understanding.

And then I was awake. It was the second day. Sensei came back, offered his condolences, and did what he could to comfort us. He tried to hug me, but I just backed away. He saw there was no point in trying, and I hated to do it, but there was some bitter authority to it that I reveled in for all the ten seconds it lasted. I heard him do a lot of talking with Yasaka in cautious tones, like exchanging advice. I heard a lot of it from my room. I wanted Ophis to come, oh how I wanted Ophis to come! She'd say "I respectfully ask to screw your opinion," or something like that, and see through my seeming cold and distant. But one can only hope, right? She never did.

That night I didn't do anything like cry myself to sleep - that would've been extremely cliche, even says the one with his emotions bouncing about between his skull. No, I preferred to just talk to myself - and to the unseen Ophis, commenting how no one really likes a grandiose late entrance. "But I'll take it," I said. "Sure, I'll take one. Be as late as you want, just show up at all if you can." Very dramatic and heartfelt stuff, y'see. I missed her, and didn't dream at all.

I woke up on the third day and somehow sensed things had changed. I didn't bother laying around - of course, I rarely did anyway - but almost immediately sprung straight up and went to join Sensei and Yasaka, who were already waiting. I was climbing into one of the high chairs at the kitchen table when Yasaka opened her mouth.

"We can't stay here," she declared. Nothing too weird about that. Of course, sometimes you have to ask.

"Why?"

"If we stay, something'll get us," Sensei replied. "It'll wait and in time it'll kill you where you stand. I've seen it," he added in an uncharacteristically wise way. "Do you know what that thing is?" Of course I did!

"A Devil?" He gave a sad smile and looked over at Yasaka. She remained almost as expressionless as me on a typical day.

"It's a Devil of sorts," he said. "But sometimes it's easier to externalize things and make them ridiculously distant than accept that they're inside you. It's the demon that is grief, and it'll kill us all if we're not careful." _(Good save right there.)_

And that made sense. And as a kid, it was something of an eye-opener, true or not. Not everything was some monster from the outside. Often the person you're most powerless against is yourself, right? And the only option would be to leave something behind or get dragged down in the process. I knew in that moment that I could hate it all I wanted, but Devils weren't all we have to worry about.

"I don't know where we'll be going, Issei, but it'll be away from here. If you want to be optimistic, you can call it a change of pace and a different lifestyle. But we can't stay, that's for certain. We'll be leaving sometime today or tomorrow, whichever you'd prefer - "

"Leave now," I said before she could ever even finish.

So we did.

And as you can expect, this leads to some major changes. I never saw that house again, and as the car pulled away, I saw what someone else - someone I can't remember - had said about how sterile it was, almost intruding on the green and brown of the world with its flat gray stone and glaring windows and too precisely square shape. It looked a bit like a cage, or a cell in a psych ward. As you can imagine, it probably had a bit of that in mind. I half-expected every other building we passed to look just like it, taunting me and my inability to escape it. But it didn't. It stayed. I've since found it was the most repulsive memory I have of that whole time. Sometimes I bother asking how it could be worse than Kunou's death, even.

* * *

We stopped somewhere by the ocean. There was a hotel there, or something like it. I couldn't help but think it looked somewhat new, like one of those museum souvenirs designed to look aged and worn for no other purpose than the illusion.

There was a little park nearby, with benches facing inward towards a little duck pond and some facing outward, towards a rock path and the ledge it skirted. No, that's a lie: there was a strip of grass, about six feet wide, separating travelers from the precarious danger they'd face.

I didn't want to stay in the hotel. I can confirm this because I honestly can't remember what it looked like outside of what I've already said. I spent most of the time outside by the park, and the traumatic irony was definitely lost on me. Most of the time one of the two kept track of me, and that's where I spent a lot of my time... just waiting. No idea for what.

My nights were all dreamless, and possibly sleepless, but none of it was worth remembering. I don't even remember how long we were there, just waiting. I could tell we were waiting for something.

Then there was something.

I got up that morning and went to get breakfast. Yasaka and Sensei were both nowhere to be seen. I shrugged it off, ate, and thought about how I could entertain myself today. No surprise, you can guess where I went.

I sat down at one of the benches I talked about, facing the ocean. It was a little rotted, but the paint was new, so it must still hold, right? There was something familiar about it, like seeing something from the other side. Fly over water, walk on land. Over time the water seemed to make its presence known, like it was afraid to talk before then. It roared and hissed against the rock. I should've noticed that there were no birds, yet I didn't. Of course I didn't. I never do.

Nor did I notice it when someone sat down next to me. I'll grant myself some leeway for that one, for reasons you can probably guess - what was there to hear?

"You're - " I jumped and gave a little squeal. I heard a familiar kind of "huh, look at that" chuckle.

"Ophis?" She nodded.

"I was going to say, 'you're certainly getting mopier every time I see you.' Which is completely true. Given, I understand why, but..."

"But what?"

"But it's still hard to see it. That's part of the reason I'm here right now. I would say 'sorry for your loss', offer my condolences and all that fancy crap, but I doubt either one of us is in the mood for that. So, just know I'm very sorry. For everything. There, I said it. Why are people always apologizing to each other when it comes to anything out of their control? Never makes sense."

I remained silent throughout all of this, bringing the corners of my mouth up in an awkward grimacing smile. Then I felt her poke me in the arm. Time to respond, stupid.

"You just contradicted yourself," I responded. "And I want to know exactly what you mean, so you can continue talking."

"I was hoping you'd say that. You'll find that a lot of what I'm going to say is likely to sound kinda batshit sane, so buckle up. But it'll be worth it, and with any luck you'll come out of this a better person with a better understanding of the world."

I nodded casually, and she continued. With a question.

"Do you think what happens to you is real?" I must've jerked back in startlement, because it sure looked and felt that way.

"What do you mean?"

"Your memories, your dreams, your interaction with the internal and external worlds as a whole. How much of it do you think actually happens?" It took me a bit shorter than I expected to realize I was already giving a response, almost rehearsed. I didn't think it was.

"My memories aren't perfect, and dreams are just dreams. All I really know is what isn't real." I heard her wince, and she delivered the bad news. But she continued with this.

"Let's say your memory's perfect. What would that tell you about what's happened - the good, the bad, the ugly? You and I both know the answer: your parents were killed before your very eyes, and you lost your best friend because _the power of Christ compelled her._ All of those things you've told me would have to be true, and things like those aren't grown out of. They can't be, and shouldn't be."

"Where are you going with this?"

"...Aaaand your dreams. The ones of flying, killing things, having overall a good time. Let's say those were real too. What would that tell you?" Not a rhetorical question.

"It'd mean... I do those things... when I think I'm asleep and dreaming..." She rocked her head from side to side in a "close enough" gesture.

"Close enough," she confirmed almost comically. "But... This is where things start getting messy. Let's move from what's real into... what's a bit more difficult to explain. How do you think those dreams would work, if you do these things while you're sleeping?"

I had to chew on that for a moment. Then I replied.

"I'd have to go somewhere between the time I would fall asleep and wake up again. Except... I don't ever see that." I find myself thinking now how malleable I was, and how that was no accident. This was only happening when it did _because_ I was malleable. This conversation in a new and strange place with a close friend following a extremely negatively life-changing event? I'm thinking about making a butter joke, but it keeps slipping away, ha-ha.

"Yeah. Here comes the bonkers stuff. What exactly _is_ a dream? Can you describe what a dream is for me, Issei?"

"It's... when you're asleep, and your mind wanders. Weird things happen." I spoke slowly, already sensing something cracking.

"But let's say it's not just your _mind_ , or even just _your_ mind. Let's say... you're Doctor Jekyll, or some other character like that. When you dream, things get a bit hazy, and most of the time you're completely out of control, like someone else is driving this bus. Let's say pretty soon your feet are moving and someone else is doing all the walking for you. This other person is like a roommate in the apartment between your ears, or a wingman, or something like that. You get the day shift, they take night shift."

"Are you saying I am actually two people?" And then there was a grin.

"You betcha."

"And what does that tell me about anything?"

"A lot. You were six. You just saw your parents killed, and little lady-friend's in just as much danger as you are, or maybe more, depending on how you see it. You hear some voice that's not yours, you black out and when you wake up someone's saying you killed them. Repeat that back to me without context, if you please."

( _ **"Balance**_ **Breaker"?** )

And you can imagine she didn't stop. She just kept going.

"When they said you killed them all, they were as close to right as they could be. Also, have you ever wondered how a six-year-old didn't react horribly to finding out they just murdered a gaggle of demons to death?" Pause for an answer.

( _"From what Irina tells us, you used a power that might've killed you too."_ )

"I did... something. It was dangerous, and it worked. I saved her." My eyes drifted down again, and I thought that Ophis wasn't there as I had needed her to be. She was talking, trying to explain something important, but some part of me felt that didn't matter. This was all getting somehow unbelievable, but not because it was difficult to comprehend. It was hard because I _wanted_ it to be real. All of it. And I also wanted Ophis to somehow act differently, but there was something so right to this that it felt incorrect.

"Yes, keep going," Ophis snapped me back out of my thoughts. "You were saying?" I guess I was getting a feel for what she was asking.

"I... It was something that I couldn't understand. Not even a part of me, in a way. It was something new."

A long pause.

"What do you think that was, Issei?"

"Something powerful, something... beyond?"

"Ancient, perhaps?" I nodded. "A Dragon, maybe?"

I gave her a blank look and tried to laugh critically. I couldn't.

* * *

"Now let me tell you a story of my own," she began. She rarely talked about her own life, and now I had the makings of a reason why. It didn't make for the best story. It was too vague to be a metaphor or to even be entertaining, and - at least you'd imagine - too alien to be true.

"I'd hoped to tell you later, but you know how _that_ always goes. No time like the present." She looked up at me and grinned in her smart-mouthed way, then her eyes drifted down. I followed them to the water. It looked a bit silvery. And the silver tongue began to wag.

"I wasn't born here; in fact, I don't think I was ever born at all. Everything was... empty. Monotone. Blank slate, whatever you want to call it. And it was _beautiful_. I'd known nothing else, but I doubt anyone cares what they don't know until they know it. I loved it there as I'd loved nothing else. I was alone. I was silent. I was boundless and infinite. I was free...

"...And then, one day... I find myself being ripped out. Hard. I did everything I could to hold on, even tried to make them stop, but I couldn't understand much of anything - not who they were, how they thought, why they were there or how I could stop them. And in the end, my blissful unawareness made me powerless to stop them, even with the potency I knew I possessed that was far greater than their own.

"And that's how I was born. I fell onto some sidewalk somewhere, tumbling end over end, and terrified of the world that _was_. So, what did I do, you may ask? I panicked. I got lost. I made mistakes... and then, I started realizing what I'd seen, and what I'd learned from it. I used that, and eventually learned to use what powers I possessed to change myself. I became a witness to this world, I guess you could say, and I learned how much I can wonder about you, as a whole and as individuals.

"Then I learned about Devils. Magic. Death. And so much more beyond what your imagination tells you is still somehow in your understanding. Well, whatever your imagination says, it's just trying to cover its own ass. And worst of all, I learned about Dragons.

"They were once great and powerful and abundant. I was one of them, maybe the first. And I couldn't accept that I could be the last. There are some out there still, and some who've lost themselves - literally. They've been dismembered and scattered among other living things, lying dormant and powerless. I learned this, and as you can imagine, this had me downright terrified. I may have learned humanity, but my own kind was dying. What was I to do?

"I found you, Issei. My best friend. And possibly our only hope. In more ways than one. Do you want to know why?"

It took me a moment to realize she was done monologuing, and I blinked. It was the thing that got my parents killed, nearly killed me, and killed our would-be killers to save my friend's life? Not even close, said the man with a lit match in hand.

"Why?" And she resumed.

"You have a Dragon in you too, and a powerful one." And the man smiled and dropped his dynamite. "It's active, and it's alive, and it's as obnoxious as guys come. I think you've met him before, in your own way. Ddraig?"

The Welsh Dragon. Not just any, but _the_ Welsh Dragon. It had killed, it had saved... and it had failed.

I got up and began to walk away. This wasn't right. I've said before it was so unsettling because of how right it sounded? At this point, it sounded impossible! Besides, why would I want anything to do with something like that!?

I'd forgotten where I was going, if there was anywhere at all. I guess not. But wherever I fell, it was in the grass. I was on my knees. I looked up.

It was a playground. The expansive equipment was colored in heavy red and purple. The dead air and Devil-distorted sky.

I started to cry, no shame anywhere in saying it. I remember sinking my head to the soft gravel in some sick imitation of yoga. I felt a hand on my back and wanted to run away. I didn't; in that moment, I likely would've said that I simply didn't care.

That same hand reached my head, and gently lifted it in a gesture that would've implied something maternal, but in this case was something more universal: the comfort of a friend.

I hugged Ophis tightly in that moment, sobbing shamelessly, and in those moments I also would have likely said I didn't care if she confessed everything she'd said was total bullshit. In fact, I can remember: that's _all_ I was thinking then. And what did she have to add on at the very end, to get me right there when and where I was most defenseless?

"I'm here for you now. We all are."

I just kept on sobbing into her shoulder. Eventually I got a hold of myself, and I'd stay in control for a long time.

"Was everything you said true?" I asked over her shoulder, still hugging to her as if we each expected the other to be carried away.

"All of it. I'm... sorry, the way we've had to do this." One last sniffle, and then my emotions were my own again. And I knew she wouldn't be lying.

"Tell me everything. And I'll promise not to yell at you to shut up."

She did. Yasaka was leader of an alliance of mythical creatures who were more like humans than any legend would have you believe. She herself was a nine-tailed fox, as was Kunou (well, not anymore, but...). Sensei was the Hindu God of Destruction, Shiva (he'd never lied about anything, had he?).

"I could even tell you about those neo-Satanists, like the 1983 Italy Massacre, except that's a completely different sack of steaming dump to fiddle around in," she'd added at some point. I'm still not sure what she meant.

Let's say that this is where the change became permanent. Things were no longer empty. I knew. And as you can imagine, now that meant I was destined to be thrown straight into the ring with the lions. As a Dragon: infinite, vengeful, and rejoicing.

* * *

...

* * *

 ** _Okay, so that SHOULD be the end of this prologue. I should warn you: this whole thing is more of a simple setup than a taste of what comes next, if I'm perfectly honest. All ideas suggested pointed in that ddirection. It might be violent, it might be erotic, it might be cryptic, and might be just another fantasy reimagining a fantasy. It might be great, and it is also extremely likely to crash and burn. We'll just all have to wait and see._**

 ** _You might also see something of a misunderstanding of canon concepts. Funny story: my only true knowledge of Highschool DxD is from the first three or so light novels and some of the anime. The rest was either provided or I simply researched it. I've seen some fascinating stuff here, but it isn't much. So if things seem off, that's why. Just a little story to share. Also, alterations made for the purpose of the story at hand. Nothing too upsetting, I hope._**

 ** _I want to say thank you to everyone who's enjoyed this, and those who don't but are still reading for... some reason. It means a lot, and you're all amazing people._**

 ** _Have an astronomical day!_**

 ** _\- The Toa of Science Fiction_ :-{ )**

 ** _(P.S.: the 1983 Italy Massacre is in reference to "Takara", a Transformers fanfic for anyone who likes the lore accompanying shapeshifting action figures, real-world history, and/or_** ** _shameless self-promotion!)_**


	7. Act II: A Normal Day

Things only got worse from there. Or better, if you're one of those people that chooses to see it that way.

A lot happened over the next, say, four years. Yasaka took me to some other town called Kuoh: a displaced Japanese city where East met West, although these days the West tended to dominate. And in truth, it wasn't just Americans and Japanese, but something of a hub for everyone. In fact, I'll sum everything up something like this: there's people from everywhere. You'll find, very quickly, how convenient this is all is.

And now, after all this time, there's been a lot of learning, and training, and preparation. But, like before, there was some aspect of things passing with little incident of any sort. Regardless, I could say this was better - like the idea of total freedom for a caged animal who's known little else. Except, would that really be better, or so different that the animal's confused into not knowing what can be better? You could say there was confusion as things were uprooted and forced to settle again.

Until one day, that is. I'm going to lie, and tell you it started the next day, and this is one day before anything happened at all.

We lived just a mile or so out of town, at an absurdly spacious mansion of a house that was not just a house. It was, overall, something of a military complex, or its equivalent in the fantastical and mythical world. It even had its own sort of one-sided protection field, which had to remind me of... what was it again? Something murderous. Trespassers, maybe.

That's what was happening that day...

* * *

He - not he, but _it_ \- wore a dark brown trench coat and wore a plain white baseball cap. Around its head a little deep purple cloud was starting to form, and the back of its coat was ripping open. Black crow's wings had unfolded and the tattered materials they had torn away dropped to the grass. And it spoke in an annoyingly thin, slicing vibrato voice, like it was horribly congested. I hadn't heard it yet.

It stood, with its arms crossed, just inside the protection field, tapping a dew-stained loafer against the ground.

I saw it from my window on the third floor or so, and knew exactly what it was. An Angel, and not just any Angel, but a Fallen one. As far as I knew, he'd come alone, and was just another of many faceless ones that had expressed some interest in forming some kind of truce, or alliance, or something else that would be no truer in the end. He didn't move from his spot in the entire time I saw him, and no one appeared to make any kind of reactionary response. For now, he was harmless. But today was Monday, and while I can argue I'd gotten no better in four years in terms of education, it was a way to "get me out into the world", as Yasaka had put it.

I got dressed in the school uniform and stepped out of my door. The big door slammed behind me and to be perfectly honest, I wanted to jump. But I didn't. In front of me, two Youkai passed on their way to some other important thing. Their steps were almost, but not quite, in perfect sync. They turned their heads and nodded at me in total unison, though. I nodded back a little nervously, and once they passed all the way across the hall, I continued on my way. That meant taking about ten steps right out the door, turning left to head down two or three flights of stairs, and finally reaching ground level marked by some sprawling mosaic rug. From there, I continued left into the kitchen area, where I found Ophis of all people waiting for me, standing casually against the countertop. Distantly, I considered how attractive she was, and how human she was in every way while being nothing even close. At this point, you have to realize I'm sixteen years old - optimal age for many thoughts and actions to have found their place in anyone else a long time ago.

 _"I'd bet you'd like to rejoice with her_ ," a little voice growled to me.

"Mornin', Mr. van Winkle," she told me. "I thought you'd sleep through the whole ensuing battle."

"Says the one I've never seen sleeping before. Any idea who he is?" I made my way to the table across the floor and sat down.

" _Quoth the Raven, nobody more_ ," she replied. "He's just another thug. Nobody important."

"I get that, but what is he? The third Fallen this month?"

"Fourth. We caught and skinned another at the New Kyoto headquarters two nights ago."

"Skinned? As in, you peeled his skin off?"

"Yeah, but it turns out he was a total masochist, and he enjoyed it more than I did." This inspired me to chuckle a bit, although I truly could not tell if she was joking about that or not.

"But," I began, walking over to the counter and considering what I'd have for breakfast today. "What'll we do with this one?"

"If he knows about the full extent of what goes on here we'll have do a lot worse than skin him. Especially if he knows about you."

 _"I wouldn't mind making him eat his own stomach,"_ the same grunting voice commented. But I was trying to satisfy an appetite, and wasn't exactly in the mood for something so cruel. Although, really, how much does talk of viscera really affect your ability to eat a sandwich? And then I decided that that's what I'd have this morning: a peanut-and-butter sandwich.

"Why are we just letting him sit out there?" I had to ask as I pulled out the bread.

"He's not moving forward to attack and we have the fortifications to prevent him from running back the way he came. If he wants to get himself worked up, let him."

"But I'd like to make it to school on time today," I replied. I spread peanut butter - crunchy, always - and jelly, then laid one on top of the other.

"Consider it a warm-up, then," she said. "You mean walking, right?"

"Yup."

"Have fun with that," a new voice said. Shiva. Sensei, as I had known him. The Destroyer. He was dressed in one of his weird battle-dresses. He'd explained them before, something about magical armor, but it never failed to make me laugh. I doubt any writer of Hindu text had kept a straight face seeing it either, or if they'd conditioned themselves to be horribly intimidated in its presence. "He may be just another thug, but you see that purple aura around him?" I nodded.

"That's magic," he continued. "I'm not sure what kind it'd be yet - you'll have to see for yourself - but be careful when you go out."

"Be sure to wear a kilt and mink coat," Ophis elaborated in typical flat-toned Ophis style. "Oh, and carry a big bident with a big flaming marshmallow on each end. That'll be enough to scare 'em off."

"Will do," I said. "What time is it?"

"0652," Shiva told me. I picked up my sandwich from its plate. Then, realizing I wouldn't be able to eat it while handling that guy... right? I briefly picked up the plate, and set it back down. And then picked it back up again.

"Okay. Catch me up on any movements when I get back," I finalized, and began walking to the door. My backpack and books were waiting right by the door, exactly where I'd disregarded them. I shoved the sandwich into my mouth and the books into... wherever they go in a backpack. I zipped it up and slung it over my shoulder. I gave one last wave as I opened the door, stepped outside, and closed it again. Time to get going.

But first, this Angel needed to be housebroken, or whatever euphemism you want for it.

* * *

I stood just outside the house, and saw that a head tilted down and obscured by the cap was now coming up. Even from this distance, I saw that his face was extremely sharp-angled, and his eyes glowed an unholy red. Plenty I didn't like. I pulled the sandwich out my mouth and called out to him.

"You are trespassing in the territory of the Youkai Alliance! Turn back now or be obliterated!" And he whispered, and it seemed to bypass the air between us and bounce right into my ears. His voice really was quite slicing.

"Issei Hyoudou, holder of a Dragon's Sacred Gear?" He wasn't supposed to know that.

 _"Now we will kill him just a bit more slowly for knowing. I think it might be more merciful than if he was strictly ignorant, but punishment is useless unless the lesson has time to be learned."_

"That would be correct," I replied at normal volume, slightly slower. "That is I." _Let him think he's won for just a bit longer._ I saw him grinning.

"I would like to convey a message from my superiors to the Dragon-holder," he explained. I saw him grinning smugly. "'We would like to suggest an alliance between Earthbound and Fallen Angels, and the Youkai Clan and all subsidiaries thereof." The purple aura around his head was seeming to solidify into something powdery.

"Oh, are you wondering about this thing?" He asked, pointing a white-gloved hand and spinning it around his head. "Simple protection magic. My purpose is to convey a message in person and return with your response. It'd be petty to kill the messenger, wouldn't it?"

"It would," I replied, and took a bite of the sandwich. I could already tell the aftertaste would warrant guzzling from one of the school fountains. I chewed a bit and swallowed. "It would be very petty."

I couldn't see it in his face - I've never been able to see much - but I was fairly certain he expected more of a reaction. He had gotten the drop on me, hadn't he? Yes, I believe he had. I hooked one thumb in the strap of my backpack and continued to stand there. Even if I was calmer than he'd expected, he still had power here.

"Would I be able to pass and be on my way, by any chance?" I asked him, back at yelling volume. "If you know who I am then you know that I have school." I began walking, and his wings suddenly slammed almost to the ground. All at once he was airborne, and spread his arms in a dominating gesture. I gazed at the ground where he had once stood - it was now black and dead where his heathen's wings had touched the grass and dirt.

"I may be just a messenger, but I'd think I'm able to bar you from going anywhere until I get an answer. As the holder of perhaps the most potential in all of the Youkai Alliance, you would represent them all." His smirk grew just a bit. I was just a kid with untapped cosmic power on his way to school, right? That no one was supposed to know about? Of course, no one knows what they don't know - that's the whole point of not knowing it, isn't it?

I grinned now, and took another swallow of sandwich. Time to break the illusion? Maybe.

 _"I would like to rip his teeth from his skull, one at a time. Do you think he still has wisdom teeth? Speaking of which, why do Angels need teeth at all?"_

"That's a good question," I said aloud. His expression changed ever so slightly - couldn't tell what, but probably nothing bad.

"What did you say?" He called out, and his voice sounded more distant.

"Your explanation is total bullshit," I told him. "And I don't think I need another tardy. One more and that'll be two hours' detention." For emphasis, I took another bite from my sandwich - with my left hand. I felt a gathering fire and my hand being lost, falling asleep and then going numb. I unhooked my thumb from the strap of my backpack and grabbed the sandwich as my hand went slack. I could see something emerald beginning to paint the light, striking against the Fallen Angel's red and purple, and the barrier's dark orange. Soon it'd be like when you hold your hands over your eyes and when you open them up everything's a flat shade of blue.

"Do you see this?" I asked him, sticking my arm out to him, hand completely useless but glowing incredibly. All at once he smirk became a shudder. The shift was so comical I had to laugh a little. I had to think of one of those awkward New Japanese cartoons where the characters' eyes seem to double in size when they're surprised. "This is infinity, old and distant and totally omnipresent throughout all of creation." I gave my arm a little shake for emphasis, and my hand that was no longer mine wiggled freely, shifting the green light from one side of his horribly shocked face to the other.

"Y- Yu- You..." He began, and the purple cloud around him began to grow into some kind of shell, enveloping him in... something starting more and more to resemble a rock. It was beginning to lose definition, in the same way extremely black color distorts depth.

 _"Make this slow, but not too slow."_

"I know," I replied. To both. I took another bite of my sandwich. It might've been extremely subtle adrenaline making me less concerned with taste, or maybe it truly was getting better with every bite, but I took my time chewing now, relishing the flavor. I chewed deliberately, in an extremely pronounced way.

For a brief moment, the green glow became an all-encompassing white blotch on reality itself, and all of a sudden I felt something inside suddenly turn itself inside-out. That would be the Welsh Dragon. If I remembered right, he would emerge not as a dragon, but as a knight in fiery red and orange armor. All very New Japanese, you understand, but this _is_ Kuoh we're talking about here. Two voices as one now shouted:

 _"I am infinite I am a Dragon I am power incarnate I am your torturer!"_

Good thing my backpack and sandwich were still in hand when the change was over. Meanwhile, the armored body of the Welsh Dragon, bathed in his own emerald light, sized up the Fallen Angel in the purple cloud.

With our free left hand, we took two steps forward and suddenly lifted our body from the grass. We moved forward, sticking our free hand into the cloud and shoving it and its passenger against the fortified field. He could pass through easily, but we would let him do no such thing. We had him by the throat. Let his wings beat all they like, but he would not get anywhere. Especially not after what comes next.

 _"The usual?"_ Ddraig asked me.

 _"Not worth it. Just the teeth,"_ I responded. No condescending smirk is ever complete without a mouthful of teeth, is it?

 _"Just the teeth,"_ we repeated as one. We dropped him to the ground, slamming him down headfirst. Dazed, he tried to flap his wings, but our hand wrenched his mouth open and stayed there. Our pointer finger found the farthest-back teeth of his mouth: the ultimately-useless wisdom teeth. He was screaming hilariously now, and our hand reduced the sound to a pitiful little whisper. A twitch of the finger as it hooks around the tooth, and the Angel's scream managed to reach our ears with any weight to it at all.

We couldn't really feel it - or at least not me - but blood was beginning to pool in his mouth. He thrashed wildly, and we thought we saw tears in his eyes. Not only was he far too human for his own Angelic good, but he couldn't stand the _pain_ of it all. That protective aura was meant for something weaker than us, and while he could have known of us there was no way of knowing how much we've started to work together. Ddraig and Issei, combined into one for a time after years of training. Even if we had not shown this to him, we could not risk letting him live, especially not for trespassing. One less of the legions that could follow.

We continued the process until all of his strangely human teeth had been ripped from his skull, and still with only our one hand - the other held the sandwich, and the backpack still was slung over our shoulders - we continued to hold him down. Blood flooded his mouth as he screamed numbly with a crushed tongue, and still he found strength to try and struggle. We let him. We'd been at this for only two minutes or so, and had a decent amount of time. The purple field around him eventually sparked out, however the magic had worked.

Eventually he tired himself out, and went still. Ddraig left us, and I returned to myself. I checked to see if I still had my backpack on my back and my unfinished sandwich in hand. Looking at the maimed and lifeless body of the messenger Angel, I took another bite of the sandwich. It tasted amazing! I gave a wave back to everyone in the mansion, and picked up walking right past the thing. They'd finish him off, but I guess we just weren't in the mood to do it ourselves after all. His fallen baseball cap - completely white - still rested in the grass, to mark where he had stood and fallen.

The protective field opened itself up just enough to permit a sixteen-year-old boy passage into the outside world. And the boy in question started up a broken stone path, down a hill to meet with the road and its sidewalk, and eventually to pass the city limits and join the town itself as Issei Hyoudou, a somewhat awkward kid who probably had a learning deficiency of some unspecified sort. This boy also had a carefree skip and hop in his step.

* * *

...

* * *

I was within a block of the school when I found the two others: normal (if not excessively perverse, even for their age) boys in Kuoh Academy uniform. Motohama and Matsuda were their names, and just like me, they ended up outside the cliques that were the norm. They were religiously lecherous, antisocial (not asocial, but likely _true_ antisocial), and most importantly, they were my friends. They were standing a safe distance away from the more popular cliques in front of the front doorway, but close enough that they could still get a good view. I had to smile a little sadly when I saw it. They didn't care, they were going to do what their hormones told them to. I saw them and picked up my pace, my vision unknowingly narrowing a fair bit.

And that's when I collided with someone. It was a hard collision, and I think I heard screaming. I couldn't tell what or who I'd hit, or how hard, but it was hard enough to send both of us sprawling. My hands came out in front of me and made contact with the very edge of the curb, providing just enough support to prevent something of a knock to the head. Another six inches or so and I'd be in optimal position to be run over by any passing car. I grunted and got to my feet, brushing myself off absentmindedly and looking around with a bit more attention into seeing who I'd so carelessly let myself collide with. I don't know what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't this.

It was a girl, about my age, and I was quick to notice she was dressed like some sort of nun. 'Peasant' was actually the first word that came to mind, but that was the last I'd ever think of it like that, once I learned how to look anywhere else but her clothes. She was my age, and that meant I can't say what my standards were, but my eyes went up to her face - she was _beautiful_. That's the only word that could really encapsulate any part of it. That's what she was.

She was also hopelessly embarrassed - and rightly so - that the long skirt of her dress had been pulled up somehow during the fall, and no amount of even more modest dress would ever have hidden what was now wide-open for the world to see. I took a long while to see it, and by that time the stunned girl was screaming. Regaining myself a bit, I immediately jerked my head away, shielding my eyes and wondering horribly if I'd ever want to unsee that exposed bit of flesh and undergarment. I also screamed a bit too, before remembering how little communicating screaming did:

 _"I'm sorry I'm really sorry I didn't mean to - !"_

Then, something kind of wonderful happened. In perfect alignment with who everyone in Kuoh must've thought me to be, I managed to trip over my own feet stepping away, and falling hard onto my back. Thankfully, I'd again missed the curb, but it certainly hurt a fair bit. I might've even blacked out for the briefest of moments from the impact. That's not the strange and wonderful part of it.

"It's okay," an unnaturally fluid voice soothed. This girl, whoever she was, was now laying a hand on my shoulder. Something about it was... draining. But nothing good was going. Only the pain seemed distant, and some of the embarrassment with it. It was a comforting gesture.

"I'm sorry," I repeated, and I opened eyes I hadn't realized had closed. I was expecting some light from somewhere to stab at my eyeballs, but there was none. Instead, something looming overhead, shielding me from anything that could've done so. Hair fell loosely, distorting the shape.

"And I forgive you," she added in a high, kind of unnaturally youthful voice. I quickly made the decision to get up, slowly, with some pain that seemed far away enough not to worry about at all. Her hand stayed there on my arm the whole time, like she'd gotten to her own feet in a single unbroken fluid motion. Good thing too, because for a moment dizziness overtook me and my body made the executive decision that it wanted to stay on the sidewalk. This girl must've seen this coming somehow, and knew to steady me for a moment, applying just enough force to keep me upright. My hands went out wildly at first, and then relaxed.

It took me another moment to realize she'd turned so we could look each other in the face. I blushed nervously, but couldn't really bring myself to look away. Open green eyes, a definitely-formal but somehow also completely-sincere smile, and free-flowing blond hair with a length that was impossible to gauge.

"Sorry," I repeated like an idiot, starting to grin shamefully.

" _I tell you, not seven times but seventy-times-seven_ ," she recited. "I've already forgiven you. Besides, it was my own clumsiness that caused this whole mess," she told me, speaking slowly and seeming to emphasize that she believed every word of what she was saying. In a world where almost all mythologies are right, it's hard to dismiss any one of them, but I recognized it, and something about it didn't sit right with me. But both I and the dragon in me agreed it was better to say nothing about it and skip straight to the introductions.

"I'm Issei," I blurted out, and the burning sensation was starting to die just a bit.

"I am Asia Argento," the girl replied, taking her hand from my shoulder and extending it for an extremely formal handshake. That feeling of bad things being drained away receded with such ferocity I didn't even bother to see if her hand was glowing or not. I grimaced a little without meaning to, then took her hand. She initiated a quick up-down and quickly let go again.

"It's very nice to meet you, Asia Argento," I responded in that typical cliche way. I pointed my arm straight out to the school less than a block away. "This is where I'll be headed in the future, if you'd like to run into me again," was what I'd tried to say. I didn't hear it, only saw her smiling that mandatory smile of hers and nodding once or twice.

"I will keep that in mind," she told me. "It's been very nice meeting you too, Issei." And then all at once she was walking away, her hair and long skirts waving a little. Behind her, I got a horribly uncomfortable feeling that was now becoming noticeable. The sinking in the pit of my stomach, the fire in my face, the lead in my legs... and between them! I looked down stupidly, with a goofy image of having burst through my pants starting to etch itself into my retinas, right next to the _delicate flesh of her exposed thighs._ Was I sick? I understood how these things worked, obviously, but I don't think it's ever been phrased quite like I was phrasing it.

 _You would like to rejoice with her, too, wouldn't you?_

* * *

"Hey, Ise!" Motohama shouted. For reference, he's the wirier of the two, with thick glasses and something of a critical frown where a mouth should've been. He'd know exactly what I was thinking about, wouldn't he? I finished making my way over to him.

"We just saw you wipe out right into some babe," Matsuda added, giggling in a way I knew to be just short of malice. He was the slightly more athletic one, and the least-liked photographer in all of Kuoh. "Half the students out here were looking in that direction!"

"They were?" I asked redundantly. I knew they probably were. Still, both boys nodded.

"I'm jealous. How was the view?" Motohama asked me.

"Not that great," I lied. "I didn't see much of anything, actually, I just kinda fell and she helped me up."

"You - !" Motohama started to shout at me. He did a quick double-take, as if trying to hide his expression for a moment. He turned back around to face me, and the accusatory energy he was emanating died off. He relaxed. "You're an idiot, you know that?"

"Yup," I replied. "But," I added. "That's the closest any of us have gotten to a girl, isn't it?"

"Probably," Martsuda responded, grinning. "You wanna hear some good news?" Motohama was grinning too. It was probably some new injection of "art" into pornographic imagery that they seemed to like so much. 'Glow-in-the-dark paint fights between twelve naked young women' was possibly the most ridiculous of those they'd told me about... and then taken the time to show me. What baffled me was how they expected to believe that it'd be so easy in the real world. They never said it outright, but their words had never meant otherwise. Or maybe I was being overly critical, or perhaps hypocritical, even.

"Okay," I agreed, hoping just to get it over with. "What is it?" They were giggling madly now, and Matsuda leaned in close to whisper in my left ear.

"I got it!" He squeaked. "The newest volume of Young-'uns and Dragons!" That was actually pretty tame for him, but he was quite a devout fan. Basically, it's an Internet show where teenage girls dress up as mythological creatures and role-play through various stories that often had a sexual undertone. I wasn't impressed and mostly just disturbed, but these two had their own way of seeing it.

"That's..." I started, drifting off. He wouldn't care for it much if I told him I wasn't impressed, but he wouldn't be paying the closest attention, either. Neither would Motohama. "That's certainly good news," I finished flatly. They returned to their talking, and I decided it'd be best not to talk to them right now. Was it because of Asia Argento? Possibly. Probably. I might've just not been in the mood for their antics, even, despite how I'd become so associated with it in the past school years. I walked through the front doors and immediately began trying to navigate the labyrinth that was Kuoh Academy's high school sector.

I had to think about Asia Argento again. How could I not? But it wasn't of her that I'd seen. I wasn't attracted to her chest, but instead I had to think about what hung of it. A silver crucifix, no surprise for someone who dressed vaguely like a nun and recited Biblical passages, but I'd seen it somewhere before. Somewhere incredibly distant, where I had to think that it tied this new girl to a very old memory of someone doubtless very different.

 _("Pul-lease! Tremble before the infinite awesomeness!")_

I passed from one class with little incident, and not unlike many other times, I barely registered being there at all. I stayed at my corner seat during some math class, gazing off into the distance, and trying and failing not to catch myself not gazing at some of the female students in front me. Next came some science class, where I was learning the specifics of how predators and prey maintain a steady system. After that, I managed to daydream through an entire literature class without being caught; maybe I had been and no one had bothered enough to try and call me out for it. I was thinking about being a fierce Dragon, and her being... whatever it was she felt like. It changes more often than it stays the same.

After that was a study hall period, during which I took my turn putting my own markings on the desk I'd sat down at randomly. Among previous doodles were a hopelessly unattractive penis drawn in red marker, a phone number jotted down in scratchy pencil and marked "for emergencies ONLY", a broken heart with an illegible initial on each side, and an empty dream: "I swear that redhead wants mine!" As for me, I was happy just drawing a sad little stick-figure with a pitchfork in one hand and a harp in the other. Then, for purposes of bad artistic irony, a drew a shriveled bat wing on the harp side, and a feathery bird wing on the pitchfork side. I even took time to prescribe my initials underneath in a way that a doctor could say wasn't useful at all.

When study hall let out, next came lunch. For some logistical reason it consisted of several mini-periods on a rotation, and I had no one to sit by. Not that I minded. If I really wanted, I could dine in some great hall with nigh-immortal creatures of legend, who knew my real story and who I knew personally. But instead I guess I was content at the far end of a long cafeteria table, a safe distance from anyone who I could know or easily guess didn't like my being too close to them. Let them keep their distance, I told myself when it started to bother me. I was in the first rotation, and ate quickly, not worried about chatting or picking subpar food apart to see what made it subpar. I headed quickly to the courtyard, where I found a crowd of students that could really remind you what a Nexus this town was. Sometimes Ddraig would give a little ramble about how it both disappointed and excited him. But on a (seemingly) normal day like today, he didn't comment much on it. Surprisingly, we were good together but I could guess it was more by necessity than anything.

I'd walk over by the tennis courts, as I did today, and briefly watch some of the more athletic girls showing themselves off in intense matches. Passively, I could comment how futile this was, and sometimes Ddraig would agree, and we both could agree that I couldn't stop contradicting myself in that way.

 _"If you're to think about it, then just do it. Rejoice if you want to, kill if you want to, fly alone, just do it in the end. No battle was won by consideration."_

And he was right. Before I could tell who took notice I was walking away, and couldn't really find a good place to sit down. I could roam for a time without even pretending to do something, couldn't I?

I thought about Irina Shidou, and Asia Argento. Where would either one be? I imaged one was either dead or still on the run, and the other... closer, but still somehow farther away. What had Asia looked like as a child? What would Irina look like today? Absurdly, I wondered if some plot twist in the future wouldn't have me find out they were one and the same. No, I quickly countered. That was a twist worthy of one of Motohama's or Matsuda's shows about scantily-clad cults. 'The plot thickens: The Murderers of the Light and the Werewolves of Bangladesh are just the same group of people during different phases of the MOOOOOOON!' Besides, what I'd seen of Asia was nothing like Irina, or at least that's what I could gather. She was new; Irina was old.

I don't think I could even think much during that time. I can scarcely remember the rest of the school day at all: two class periods I couldn't remember, and a conversation as students clambered to escape. Obviously, it involved two people: Motohama and Matsuda, the two-man lechery act.

"Y'know, I'm more a Koneko guy myself," I overheard Motohama saying. No surprise, it was about some girls. But, I guess, it could be called progress, seeing as how it was an actual human being and all that? Or would that be worse? The Koneko in question was a freshman, yet somehow never looked even that old. And then I reached the conclusion that yes, that was worse.

"Why!?" Matsuda responded. "She's just a little thing, barely ye-high with no dimension to her at all! Why not Akeno or Rias or... one of them? Just someone with some _depth_ and _height_ and _length_ , that's always better than just looking like a kid. What're you, twelve? Go big or go home!"

"Bigger is NOT always better, idiot!" Motohama shouted back. "Hey, Issei, explain to this man what a treasure our school's mascot is."

"Ehhh, I don't know about that," I said. "Maybe he's got a point, or maybe neither of you is making any sense whatsoever, I can't really say yet."

 _"GODDAMMIT ISSEI!"_ Motohama roared. "Make up your mind already!"

"Yeah, I think I'm actually with this idiot on that one," Matsuda added.

"That was the point," I explained. "Or maybe it was just an excuse not to take sides here, or maybe I happen to agree with both of you, who knows anymore?"

"And certainly neither of us. See ya tomorrow, Ise! Don't get any babes without us!" And with that Motohama went his way to do... whatever it was he did.

"Yeah, see ya," Matsuda agreed. He flashed a quick wave and did the same.

That left me free to walk home, back to the real world.

* * *

...

* * *

I walked back through the little patch of forest and started up the hill, thinking about how only a few hours before, an Angel had stood there. I could've killed him myself, and probably should have, but had lost interest just when I needed it the most. He'd undergone serious dental surgery, though, and I guess that must've been satisfactory. Someone else - Youkai or other - had probably finished the job already. I stopped where he had dropped his hat, and picked it up. I'd carry it inside and see who'd dispose of it.

Yasaka was waiting for me, practically just inside the door. She gave me the traditional hug and kiss on the cheek, and I had to admit, in that hypocritical way again, that I didn't mind it too much.

"How was school today, Issei?"

"Nothing special," I lied. There was plenty about it that was special. That, and tomorrow all Heaven and Hell would begin to break loose. Not that many of us knew that, not even myself. In fact, barely anyone knew that.

"Too bad," she responded, and released me from her embrace. I set my backpack down exactly where I'd set it that morning, right by the door.

"Is Shiva home?"

"No, he's currently examining troops and destroying stuff, or at least that's what he says."

"Do we have any news to report on the Alliance? What's the status on the werewolves?"

"We're still in the process of taming one, with hopes that it'll influence more to join us willingly. Somehow, I doubt that, though."

"And these... Children of Gaia? The crazy ones?"

"Ring of Gaia. We've tried. There's no talking to them, but at least both we and our enemies can agree that they'll be stopped wherever we encounter them."

"So, in other words, nothing special for you, either?" She smiled, and went back to whatever it was she'd been doing beforehand. Meanwhile, I decided it'd be a good time to find Ophis. Typically, when not going out in the world to do who-knows-what, she moped around here and just wait for someone to mess with. And I still had the Angel's cap in hand.

I made my way up the first flight of stairs and looked down the corridor. Half-immersed in shadow, she was leaned against the wall and reading some kind of book.

"How was school today?"

"I wouldn't know," was my reply. "All numbers and talk of things that _don't concern me_."

"Sounds fun." She still just stood there, somehow managing to make text out in the darkness. Not that that should've surprised me at all.

"And, uhm..." Now I thought it important to ask.

"Yes, my little mortal friend?"

"I..." Should I tell her? Probably. So I did. "I met someone today."

"Oh? I'm guessing it's just your typical 'ooh, new person' love at first sight?" I had to take a moment to register the way my heart was starting to hammer in my chest. I was just talking about here! I drew in a deep breath and exhaled with a bit more emphasis than should ever be considered normal. I started to crumple a little.

"Is it okay if we sit down?"

"Sure," was her reply. So we did. I collapsed onto my hands and knees and wormed my way against the wall across from Ophis. She slid down too, hands clasped in a really Ophis-like critical way that somehow was never purely critical. "You ready to talk yet? Or do I have to break you first?"

"I think I'm ready."

"So talk." I whistled out another shuddering breath.

"I ran into her on my way to school today. You know me, it was pretty embarrassing. And... her dress got thrown up and I saw more than I probably should have," I told her, starting to grin and laugh nervously. "And... she just shrugged it off like it was no big deal. There was something... really fascinating, like something just out of reach that I felt I should've recognized, but there was no way I could." She nodded essentially the whole time.

"Go on," she ordered. So I did.

"I couldn't stop thinking about her for most of the day - not about her body, although I did some of that too - but who she was, and how I felt some... connection of some sort." After a moment of silence, I was confirmed to have stopped talking. Little of what I'd said had come out how it needed to, hence someone like Ophis who could listen and pick apart and understand.

"I think," she began, "that you're getting a late onset of middle-school crushes." Joke? I'd had my first crush when I was nine, although you could probably guess I'd always thought little of it. Maybe... Or maybe it really was just a joke.

" _Or_ ," she continued, "you've just seen another Dragon."

"What?"

"Issei, when you were twelve, and you'd just lost Kunou, what all did I say to you?" Not much, in all. I still remembered how I'd supposedly had to fester like an old wound, with radio silence from my closest and perhaps only friend for days with no idea what to do. Obviously, I said none of this. She was happy to fill that in, too.

"' _They were once great and powerful and abundant.'_ And now... I'd said they were scattered and dismembered by the cosmos itself, and clinging on to other life in order to survive. Humans are repulsive, sure, but they're also the top candidates for host. One of the abilities you have, as what we will call Our Chosen One, is to see what's what. Is it possible that skill is finally emerging?"

"Maybe," I replied, accepting the answer. Of course, I hadn't mentioned her little trick of draining the pain away - in fact, I hadn't even remembered it, it had been such a subtle and minor thing. "And..." I had to add, "what does that mean?"

" _Rejoice,"_ Ddraig said. _"Our world may soon be dead, but species develop ways of keeping themselves alive. Not the individuals, but the strong members of a group. In your emerging age, you should recognize this as your chance."_

As if she'd heard him - and probably had - Ophis nodded, an ironically smug grin that I would have liked to remove from anyone else's face starting to spring up from her mouth.

* * *

I still had the matter of the hat to take care of. I decided that since I hadn't worked it up to kill him, I would, at the very least, dispose of his hat personally. It was at this time that I realized I'd broken my promise to think of him only as "it" long ago. I couldn't very well get personal with my victims, could I?

After finishing my talk with Ophis, I kept the hat it hand for a while, studying it. Was there a particular reason it had been pure white? Symbolism, perhaps? Or was it his own identifying mark, like a Biblical callsign? Probably the second. His superiors would very likely guess that he was dead, and if they knew about me this would only reinforce their suspicions, but he'd seen me himself, and that meant he'd had to die. Or perhaps reduced to babbling children's rhymes in a damp corner, but even for us that would be cruel.

I kept it with me until that night, when I got the dinner I'd promised at lunch. Great hall, plenty of other people, the works. Yasaka, who was still trying to improve her own cooking skills (which were, in retrospect, never the best), served up some exotic meats I couldn't readily recognize in some style I couldn't recognize. I made a big gesture of smacking my forehead when Ophis said "these are some good fajitas!" I should've recognized the traditional vegetables and grill-marks among the meats, and while it might've been some other similar dish, I could never unsee it as fajitas.

And, fulfilling that fantasy even further, I again managed to catch myself thinking about Ophis. She'd explained once that her form was always malleable, and I'd seen so from time to time, but there seemed to be some gravitation that transcended appearance. A cynic or anyone with a decent understanding of the subject would call it love. But, of course, love is extremely broad, isn't it?

The hat hung from a peg on the back of my chair, and I'd decided to destroy it after dinner. As soon as I was finished, and after listening to one of Shiva's stories of his exploits with some other mythological creatures, I dismissed myself to figure out how I was to do it. I figured something out.

I went out in front of the house, where the Angel himself (itself) had stood, and it had been hauled away from. The protective dome still shrouded the entire house from human eyes, and you could always just walk in, but not out, without permission.

"Ready to do this?"

 _"Yes."_ I held the hat in my left hand, and suddenly felt it grow distant again, like it was no longer my limb. Technically, it wasn't. It was a Dragon's hand. And in it rested a plain white baseball cap, perfectly sterile save a couple small grass- and dirt-stains.

 _(White like...)_

And suddenly, again, I found myself thinking about Asia Argento. Her long skirt had been thrown up when she fell, and I'd seen more than just leg. No wonder she'd been so embarrassed, I only managed to realize now.

I didn't want to unsee what I'd seen. I also found myself wondering what would have to happen for her clean white panties to get grass and dirt stains on them. It was sick, but just this morning I'd ripped out an Angel's teeth and enjoyed a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich, so who knows what's sick with me?

I turned my mind back to the hand that was no longer mine, and the hat in it. Ddraig was coming out to play, and it may have been something minor, but I knew he wouldn't mind.

 _"Burn!"_ And the hat did. We felt our hand clench around the hat with the grip of a vise, and as we opened our mouth fire leapt off our tongue, spitting into our palm and reducing the hat to ash. We knew we must be careful, for any more than necessary would claim this entire field.

Ddraig left, and I returned, the warm ash remains of the hat cupped in my hand. I turned my hand to let it drain out onto the grass, and all at once its remains were lost to the dirt. I wouldn't mind heading back inside and going to bed. So I did.

While I was in bed, I found myself staring out the window, trying deliriously to see if I could find Asia Argento out there, somewhere under the stars and moon. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want her, or if I said I never wanted to see her again. But I didn't just want to _want_ her, and there was something that felt wrong about what Ophis and Ddraig had both said. I couldn't just take her, I knew that, and I didn't want to. If you wanted a knight's perspective, I wanted to _earn_ her.

And I wanted to see Irina again.

That's when I realized. If she was still alive, there was little doubt that she was a collaborator of the Angels, given that she and her family had been targeted all those years ago. I might've even killed someone she knew. If I wanted to look even deeper, Asia might even have known that Angel; might even know Irina.

Sleep that night was uneasy, but tomorrow would be worse. Much, much worse.

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 ** _Yeah, there's going to be some big shifts._**

 ** _If you've gotten this far, thank you, it means a lot. I'll keep my own spiel extra-short and just say that if you want, I'd never not appreciate a review, and I'd be happy to enter a full discussion. I hope you've enjoyed and will continue to enjoy, but if not I certainly won't blame you._**

 ** _Have a nice day!_**

 ** _..._**

 ** _I'm sorry, I lied. Something occurred to me as I wrote this. To anyone who doesn't know me personally, I turned sixteen recently, and I couldn't help but realize that this is time I'm not getting back. By the time he was my age, our protagonist Issei - in the source material - has already died a couple times, discovered an incredible power, and formed countless relationships with characters designed with every intention of being what Kip Dynamite would call "hot babes"._ _And, if you're the type to read classic sci-fi novels, Paul Atreides from "Dune" was fifteen or sixteen when he traversed the inhospitable deserts or Arrakis, beat soldiers in combat to the death, and integrated himself into Fremen society. I understand these are fantastical characters, but I imagine adolescence has turned me into what some call "the jealous type"._**

 ** _Maybe that's why they're so fantastical, to the point of absurdity. We like to see ourselves in them, perhaps grasping at straws, but always finding some way to say "hey, we're not that different". Or perhaps we'd like to think of the characters themselves as our friends. I'd say this might be even truer for writers, especially the more lonely and withdrawn ones._**

 ** _But perhaps more on that later. Sorry for wasting your time with this bit, but sometimes fanfiction is about simple venting._**

 ** _Really, have a nice day!_**

 ** _\- The Toa of Science Fiction_ :-{ )**


	8. Act II: The Proposal

_**I've made a decision: move my spiel to the beginning, and shut up after that. And boy, do I have something of a bite-sized mouthful this time. For future reference, would you prefer it here or at the end?**_

 _ **I observe statistics on my stories obsessively, and within a day of posting the previous chapter two followers had dropped the story. Given what's happened, I should've seen something like that coming.**_

 _ **\- BUT -**_

 _ **I'll make something pretty clear right now, for any worried that this'll turn into just another sex- and power-fantasy: this probably is exactly that, but no fantasy can substitute reality, and I think that's one of the things this story is about, much to the objection of the original haver-of-ideas. I'm a bit of what you could call "passively disobedient", which is an embarrassing description but completely accurate. Also, despite what the last chapter (or even this chapter) may have led you to believe, I don't do sex scenes, which I hope comes as a relief to y'all. Not much experience handling the act, I'm afraid. : )**_

 _ **Slightly off-topic request: watch "Blue Velvet" if you ever get the chance. "A Clockwork Orange" while you're at it, too. Good stuff, very violent, very sexual, very unsettling, and overall some of the most human things you'll ever see. Maybe I think you'll see what nail I'm trying to hit here, perhaps. Or maybe I'm just throwing out movie titles because no reason, I don't know. I'm pretty sure every antagonist I've ever written has something to do with Frank Booth or Alex DeLarge, and hopefully I'm not the only one who sees it.**_

 _ **If you'd like to review, I'd never discourage it, because every review is a new way I can examine my own writings, and it's a tremendous help. Personal friends and family I ask to give their thoughts on my writings have ALL proven absolutely useless and done little to nothing, so I'm counting on YOU! (Cue Uncle Sam finger) Or just PM me about it, if you really have a mouthful. Good or bad, I'll take it and run.**_

 _ **(I'd never actually show this story to my family, but it's been a recurrent issue, and this story probably needs critiquing more than most other bad ones I've written, soooo... Yeah.)**_

 _ **I've suffered some dilemmas about what to do, considering the plot wasn't finished even as of last chapter. I've gotten a whole progression down since then, but I'm very trial-and-error, and I'm not sure about it. If I'm right about it it'll become incoherent; if I'm wrong it'll be the worst thing you've ever read. I'll likely overthink it just a bit too much before I get that far, but just know I might ask some very direct questions of you in the future to learn what I can.**_

 _ **And I'm finally done. Enjoy, and have a miraculous day!**_

 _ **\- The Toa of Science Fiction**_ **:-{ )**

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* * *

I woke up early the next morning, and exchanged a few words with Yasaka and Shiva before heading out for the day. I got to school at about 0743, and felt a bit more motivated to engage with them. Once again, there was nothing to them but sharing intimacies about themselves that probably should've been kept _to themselves._

"Last night the only thing I could think of was Koneko-chan!" Motohama told us in a state of complete ecstasy, even adding the Japanese honorific for effect. "I swear, it was like she was _right there on top of me_!"

"Are you ever going to shut up about that! Keep talking like that you'll be arrested for things that may not even be illegal until you're an adult! Hell, they might be going through your computer right now!" That was, of course, Matsuda. He knew he was no better, but also thought of his own tastes as much more mature and healthy. As you can guess, that's not the point. "Me, if they find anything they won't go see who they have to drag out of school and throw in prison, they'll sit down at my computer and watch it with me! I'll even let them!" At this point, his voice was a raspy, frustrated squeal, making a hilarious situation even more so. And of course, they turned to me to try and figure this one out.

"Issei," Matsuda added. "Explain to our friend here why his tastes are disgusting. He seems to have forgotten."

"I think it's funny how after all this time this is still what starts arguments between you two," I told them, trying and failing to stifle some giggles. They didn't find it very funny. I decided to elaborate. "You two appear completely unable to accept that you get turned on by different things, and so you try to force it on one another. And that doesn't work," I told them. "Either shut up about sex and find something different to argue about, or accept that." I think they both actually considered for a moment. It was a long moment at that.

"Issei, my friend," Matsuda began, clapping his hand to my shoulder in that dramatic way he did. "I think, at this point, there will be _no_ shutting up about my exquisite tastes and so, by process of elimination, I've decided to make up with this monkey over here," he said, pointing to Motohama. He looked like he was grimacing.

"I've reached the same conclusion," Motohama agreed, and held out his own hand. "He's right. We've argued about this for too long. Besides, I think we can both agree on some things. For example, Ri-..." He stopped himself, and corrected. " _She_ happens to have a great shape to her." Matsuda was smirking.

"I knew you'd've come around some time ago!" That was good. Hopefully this truce would last a week or so.

"Now, y'see?" I told them. "That's how friends work out thei-..." A couple girls nearby were squealing, and I couldn't finish the remark. Obviously not the repulsed kind of squeal, so we all knew what it was. Some guy named Kiba Yuuto, who happened to be something of a subject for female fantasies that made Matsuda's and Motohama's seem like childhood memories of picnics and the like.

I thought I heard a few moans and "I want him for a sleepover!" Then I heard "Minus the actual sleeping!" "Sleep with me, Kiba!" "Why bother with sleep, I want him fully awake!" "I've heard he's a great swordsman!" "Stab me!" "As many places as you want!" I doubt this was any one person, but multiple girls bouncing ideas off one another. A horrible and absurd image formed of all of them piling on Kiba in a massive tackling orgy. I thought I heard a quote from "Romeo and Juliet". Even Shakespeare must've known how ridiculous that sounded.

"I don't like him," Matsuda said, and keeping this in mind, his voice sounded a bit more disgusted.

"Only people who have a chance with someone like that happen to like them," Motohama explained, trying to sound as cynical as possible. He did. But, judging by the sheer number of girls that we saw surrounding him, we could tell not all of them met that criteria. Even weirder, he didn't mind any of this, merely kept a friendly smile and did what he could to acknowledge whoever got close. His verbal replies were completely inaudible. I briefly wondered if he was a sociopath. Probably not.

"Not like you had much of a chance with any of those that're into him," I added.

"While that may be true, that's no excuse!" Matsuda told me, and made something of a display of waving his fists at the guy as he strolled into the school, followed loosely by his female admirers. In his last moments, he might've even thrown the finger.

"That does nothing," I tried telling him, but the bell rang, and we all went our separate ways for the day. And as I've told you before, things happened.

* * *

I was back in math class when I was summoned. I'd been trying not to think too much about the girls in front of me, but suddenly found myself unable when I saw that one of the girls' skirts had been hiked up just a bit as she'd sat down, and from the position she sat in it was easy enough to see. She didn't appear to notice, but I had, and had to think _Wow, was that what Asia's thighs had looked like? And the simple dress must've hidden plenty as well. How prominent would her chest be in, say, a Kuoh uniform?_

And then there I was, thinking about Asia in that way I think only teenage boys can think. Seventy-seven-times-seven? I could go for that.

And my mind drifted a bit farther, past sex and into violence. I was torturing the Angel messenger again, but this time I didn't lose my appetite for it. I didn't go for his mouth, instead opting to examine his feathery crow-wings. Ironically, I remembered to keep the sandwich in my right hand. I didn't bother with realism, just planted my feet in his stomach, and first plucked one of them off, then the other. There was a generous amount of blood, and with a full dental set he opened wide to scream. I let him, and soon turned to his other wing when I heard a voice...

 _"Stop!" A girl cries. I turn. I can't tell who it is, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that she's witnessing what has to be a horror, especially for her._

 _"I cannot forgive you for this!" She screams, and reaches forward, a silver crucifix dangling from her fingers. There's tears in her eyes._

 _"That's right," the messenger Angel beneath me manages to cough out. "Hurting us is seventy-seven-times-eight. No-go for launch!" And, all of a sudden, he sits up, passing completely through my feet, my legs, my whole body. And then he's towering over me, as if his form grows when solidifying. He throws his trench coat aside, revealing a silver-plated skeleton underneath. "Can't take it back now, I'm dead!"_

 _He reaches down and scoops the girl up with one bony hand, briefly passing through to avoid crushing her. She remains fixed, pointing the crucifix accusingly at me. I can tell it's heavy; I'm feeling it weigh down on my whole body just looking at it._

 _"Issei?" The Angel calls out, spitting his teeth out at me as he does. His skin's disappearing, becoming a grinning skull. His teeth float to the ground around me as feathers. The girl in his left hand speaks with him as one voice._

 _"Issei Hyoudou?" They repeat it again. But the voice is much more present._

 _The Angel -_

 _-_ kicked me. Not very hard, just enough to get my attention; in fact, it was barely even a nudge. With all the consciousness and sobriety of a dreaming drunk, I brought my head up. I should've heard the accompanying squealing and puzzled whispering that wasn't even a whisper, but I didn't.

Remember that guy from earlier? That Kiba fellow? He was standing over my desk, blocking the overhanging light and reducing him to a half-solid shadow.

"That is you, isn't it? Issei Hyoudou, sophomore, first period in Room 24B?" The shadow spoke. I nodded slowly, barely registering any of it but getting most of it. "Good. I'm Kiba Yuuto, and I have a form excusing you from this class for an Occult Research Club event."

That, as you might remember, is where Kiba and the rest of them held their important meetings under a sardonic pretense. Obviously, I wasn't a part of that, and in my still-half-asleep state I didn't make the connection.

"You did join last night, didn't you?" And then it dawned on me. I nodded, going along with it. Absently, I wondered how Kiba's fangirls would take that news. Not well. I heard a few horrified groans.

"Then get up, and let's get going," he told me, nudging me with his shoe again for good measure. I gathered what I needed to and got going, following this guy down hallways that had always seemed spiteful because of how they never seemed to stay in place. And all at once we were out of the building, not bothering with the absolutely destroyed stone path but instead cutting right through the grass to reach the Old Building. As the name would have you guess, this was where classes had once been held, and where one group of Devils coordinated amongst themselves. It was far more run-down on the outside than I thought it should be, with crawling ivy, shattered windows and crumbling red-brown brick. But I doubted it was anything like that on the inside. It wasn't.

We entered through a reasonably plain white door, which no one was waiting behind, and did not shut on its own. Or, at least, I didn't give it the chance; I shut the door behind me, and it was almost completely silent.

This part of the building also looked run-down, but mostly just empty, with unpainted walls and no furniture whatsoever. We didn't focus on it much, and instead ascended a flight of stairs that were much the same. The second floor is where the fun started.

Carpeted floor, intricate paintings on the wall; Ophis would call it "the whole shebang" or something like that. He opened a door on our right and motioned for me to enter. His face appeared completely blank, as if ready to take on any expression if so ordered. Sociopath indeed. I nodded mechanically and entered.

 _"Trap."_ It wasn't a question.

* * *

And I realized how obvious it must've been, even to _her_. It was meant to be that way: no missing that they could kill me if they wanted. How much would they know, exactly? Whatever it was, let them believe it.

She sat on the opposite side of a big oak table placed in almost the exact center of the room. There was one of those old-style lamps with the bottle-green shade off to one side, giving her a very faint glow. And, of course, she sat in such a way that her breasts practically sat on the table. That told me quite a lot. I pulled up a chair and sat down, trying to give the impression that I wanted neither to emphasize nor ignore what I was seeing. But, of course, there was always something else to look at with Rias Gremory, and she knew this better than perhaps anyone. She spoke first. Even the voice was hard not to gawk at, if you can picture that. If you know anything about voices, then she was a controlled contralto.

"Good morning," she began, casually, but I could still somehow sense the complete control to it. Better to stay silent and let her continue. She did.

"I assume you know who I am?" Now I figured it was time to respond.

"I'd be worried if I didn't." That was too direct, probably. Would she say something I didn't know? "But let's say I didn't. Who are you?"

Stay away from the eyes, the hair, and if possible, stay FAR away from the chest, I told myself. Doubtless, Rias knew that was what they all said. Or at least the ones who pretended they still had a conscience while she was in the room. The eyes were a horribly pure blue, the hair was an extremely saturated red, athletic frame, pale skin, and - completing any ensemble - the definitive shapes of the bazonkazonks under a form-fitting Kuoh uniform shirt. Too perfect to be human? At that point in time, the answer was most definitely yes. And then she introduced herself.

"Well," she began, leaning towards me a bit more and laying her head on crossed arms, "I'm Rias Gremory, President of the Occult Research Club, and descendant of the House of Gremory." Demonic, obviously. Somehow I'd managed to forget that, and had to remind myself to be scolded later for it. If I had my way she'd die, and soon. But somehow I thought she'd want to see what else her killer would do, should that day come. Would she grin as they did it, like she was grinning at me now, full of seduction and lust that she could sway any boy alive with? That defiance certainly gave her some sense of insane authority.

"And who are you to me?" She concluded. I should probably answer truthfully, shouldn't I?

"Issei Hyoudou, student of Kuoh Academy and closet pervert."

"Living weapon of the Youkai Alliance and Enemy to All Else?" Oddly specific title, but she hit the nail on the head, and with her I doubt it was just a nail. But still, how could she know this?

But then again, how could she not?

"Issei, I understand your reluctance," she told me. "We Devils aren't exactly your favorite people in the world, are we?" That was a lie. The argument could always be made that they weren't people at all. Still, I chose my favorite option and let her continue talking. Hopefully she wouldn't mind if I drank the view in. Maybe she was expecting me to try not to. Or did she predict what I'd predict? Did the lusting glances ever bother her at all? Devils don't get bothered by sin, do they?

"I'd like to put all prejudices aside this one time, at least." She raised herself up to a more formal position and tugged on her collar, then dropped her hands to the desk, one on top of the other. Would she be wearing a bra under there or not? I thought I saw...

"Focus," she reminded me, daring me to keep looking. And she kept going. "I'd like your help in destroying a mutual enemy." What would happen if I tried escaping right now? As-of-yet unknown magic and a couple of Devils would stop me, wouldn't they? She continued. "They're a rival demonic clan, operating within this school. You were probably aware of that, but probably not, too. Help me destroy them, and that'll be a whole group of Devils that no longer exist. I imagine you'd like that very much."

What convinced her that any of what she said or did would work? She had presence, and knowledge of simple truths like what to use it for, but anyone who knew that would see through the intention, wouldn't they?

Right?

Apparently not.

You'll see that this was an obvious regression for me, and an instance where I was wholly unprepared for what I'd supposedly spent all this time preparing for. Damn, she was hot!

"And," she added, "there's a bit more I'll throw in there." I could see she was smiling, and my body knew before I did what would likely follow; my stomach was a block of cement and my heart was trying to beat its way out of my chest. I was already trying futilely to ready myself if she made some blatantly sexual gesture to catch and hold my attention.

"No, I'm not offering you sex beyond your wildest dreams, although I doubt you'd mind that." She leaned in again, never moving her gaze. She was smiling, almost in a friendly way. "I have something almost equal to offer."

"And what exactly would that be?" I responded, trying not to lean back or give the impression of being unsettled. It wasn't really working, and it wasn't hard to guess we both knew it. How was I going to handle myself here? And why didn't I take the risk and kill every single one of them? Was I actually invested in this? Her eyes were absolutely startling, and I've never been one for reading eyes, but there was a coldness to them, that together with the smile told me she'd strip naked and stab me repeatedly in between tantalizing gestures. Was she born that way, or was it a demonic social norm?

And of course, when she told me, it had to be whispered:

"These Devils are the ones who killed them."

* * *

It took me longer than I wanted it to, and when I understood I was confused. That had to be false. I'd killed them. All of them. Irina's parents had said so. Of course, I was pretty sure they were in league with those Angel's I didn't care much for, so who knows? They could always lie.

"The Devils that killed your family when you were young. I know how you did it." That had to be false, too. Or else I'm really the worst-kept secret in Kuoh, and beyond! No choice now but to try and lie, right? Lie and mean it? She said she knew how I did... _what?_

"But I don't. I don't even know what it is I did." And it all came apart. I'd contradicted myself, and I knew that now. I was also hopelessly unprepared for Rias Gremory, as already established. Was I really that much of an idiot!? I'm practically a sitting duck here, flailing my cuts about for the sharks to smell!

Rias' smile grew even bigger.

"Of course not. But let me say what would happen if they were still out there: you'd be able to get the revenge on their clan." She timed her sentences, I realized, inserting a pause to let it sink in like I was some dimwit who couldn't keep up!

"They're a rival clan that's been active and causing problems for me." I responded quickly.

"I don't see any proof of that." I responded too quickly, and too rashly. I wanted to find out more. She knew that. She chuckled, and moved her hands a bit closer to her chest. Now I was certain she'd left it bare under the uniform shirt, to allow for painfully clear definition. My stomach started swirling again, and I knew that awkward sense of something stifled between my legs. How many times had she done this before? And, I had to consider, why couldn't humans have evolved to develop a less easily-manipulated reproductive system?

"I'm many things, Issei, but I'm not a liar." And she leaned farther across the table, evoking the obvious question of what I'd do if I was behind her instead of in front of her. She'd be leaning a lot harder in it, for one, but that just meant she was doing what she intended to. "I can prove it to you," she added. I bet she could. Exactly what she wanted. I had to see what could be done to prove her wrong. Otherwise she was in full control, ruling through fantasies and whatever else she could.

"My answer is no," I told her, trying to be as firm as possible. In this case I believe I succeeded, in more ways than one. "You can come here and take whatever you want, but you're not going to have it." Appearing to understand that I would do everything I could not to yield, she decided she was too upfront about it. She straightened up again, dropping her hands once more in front of her, and taking a neutral expression. The smile was the last thing to go, but it lingered there for just a moment.

"Understandable." I think this was the bit that happened to worry me the most. She'd never asked me about Ddraig, or how much I'd developed my Sacred Gear usage. She'd left it vague, and as a result I had no idea what she knew. I should've made actual use of my time at Kuoh; studied them, stalked them, something! This, I thought, could've been avoided! I did my best to show none of this, but I wouldn't know until later how much she could catch.

"I assume you can see yourself out, in that case. At least you were quick about it." She raised her arm to gesture to the door, keeping it a decent distance from her breasts, and it blocked the green lamplight from reaching the middle of the table. I nodded half-intentionally. This had not ended well for either of us, if it was even an end at all. Even then I think I knew that it wasn't.

I got up and walked through the door. Kiba stood exactly where he had when I entered. He still looked like just a drone. I knew enough of how Devil peerages worked to know he was not the only one she could control like this. She had at least two more: the other known members of the Occult Research Club. And all at once it occurred to me that I could've recognized all of them earlier if I'd made the connection!

Also, a Devil's peerage could be described as a bunch of servants whose jobs were to do... whatever you asked of them, without any question, up to and including otherworldly pleasures of the flesh. Did Rias use them for that? I hoped so, obviously. Something like that had to be everyone's sickest, deepest dream, whether they wanted to ever tell themselves so or not. Ophis once told me about some guy named Freud, who believed that things like this could never be denied, or else it'll find some other way to express itself. There was something that kept it in check, but you couldn't just deny it. Rias probably read Freud.

I was out of the building before I knew it, cutting through the grass back to the main campus as if I was in any hurry at all.

* * *

I returned to class exactly as I had left it. Was the teacher still having problems getting these students to solve the same problem? Of course, I hadn't been gone long, had I?

I met up with Motohama and Matsuda as soon as school let out. Obviously, they'd heard about the meeting this morning, but they didn't say anything about it. Perhaps they just didn't want to, but of course they knew. Nothing stayed secret in this school; why else were the three of us so despised by pretty much everyone? Instead, they opted to talk about their shared experiences with some erotic thing. I can't remember much of any of it. Possibly Young'uns and Dragons, I don't know. They didn't involve me very much in their conversation. Not at first, at least. When they wrapped up whatever they were talking about, they turned to me.

"Hey, Ise, what're you doing tonight?" That was Matsuda. At first I didn't realize that he was addressing me, but I heard it.

"Hey, Issei!" Matsuda continued, getting my attention. I gave some hardly-verbal reply like "huh?"

"I was wondering if you'd have any inclination to come over later, maybe watch some of whatever for a while."

"You know how I am," I replied casually. "Probably not. Sorry." Matsuda shrugged.

"No worries. Always next time, right?"

"Yeah," I replied. "But one of these days I'll mean it, y'know."

"That's what I said to my parents after they caught me..." Motohama said, and began shaking his fist to complete the thought. I had to smile, and so did Matsuda. But Motohama kept a completely stern face. We all knew he wasn't joking.

"I have yet to make that mistake," Matsuda added. "And we _all_ know Issei's mom watches him to make sure he does it right!" This stung just a bit, but I refrained from murdering both of them for two reasons: One, they didn't ask much about my home life, and I think I preferred it that way; Two, I hate to admit it, but it was actually kind of funny. I'd certainly never heard that explanation before.

"Yup," I replied, getting into it. "I never learned properly. I still have no idea how to hold it." It was mostly just crude and not really that funny, but Motohama snorted really briefly and looked unstable on his feet for a moment. He looked up, grinning. I suddenly had the horrible image of Yasaka doing exactly what I'd depicted, made even more horrible by the fact that it really wasn't.

"That was a good one. Got any more?"

"I don't think so. I'll see what I can whip up before I actually go anywhere with you two," I told them, waving back to them as I began walking away.

I'd like to think I knew someone was following me as soon as I started off. I'll even say, for purposes of convenience, that I did. I'll also say that I knew exactly who it was, who sent them, and what their intentions were. I may even say that I was completely prepared for today's encounter with Rias Gremory, or that I was sure I was being smart by waiting for them to attack, or that I didn't react as if I'd known _for a fact_ no one had been following me before.

What am I _not_ saying? "I am many things, but I'm not a liar," says the liar before offering proof.

* * *

I got lost in my head as I walked home, as I almost always did. Especially inside my own head, Rias was a prominent force. I'd depicted Yasaka instructing me on how to pleasure myself, and all of a sudden Rias was taking her place, long red hair spilling out to one side as she studied the reproductive organ in question. "I'll prove it to you," I imagined her saying before suddenly - !

Something hit me. From behind, and not in the way describing something going in the wrong end. It was something far more painful than it should've been, and I was worried for a moment if a jackhammer had not shattered the back of my skull like antique pottery. I went down before I knew it, and had time to consider the same thing of my forehead against sidewalk. Also, what time was it?

I tried pushing myself to my feet when a foot kicked down on my back, providing just enough pressure to make that impossible. I heard a girl moaning above me. I initially wasn't sure who it was.

"Please, let me indulge myself in total domination for a while," she told me, and I knew who it was: Akeno, another member of the Occult Research Club - and by extension, one of Rias' goons. Matsuda liked her a lot. She was rumored to have a couple nasty fetishes, and no one had any trouble believing it. She continued to press down for a couple moments, in which I was already gathering myself, and the thing within me. I lost feeling in my left hand almost instantly, and crumpled to the ground, scraping myself however many places on the concrete. And I asked what time it was because all of a sudden the sky didn't look like a daylight sky anymore. Was it dusk right now?

"Yeah, that's good. Stay down," she added, and moaned again for emphasis.

 _"Moans will become groans,"_ Ddraig muttered to me. _"Give me as much time as possible, and I will come forth with hellish fury."_ I'd hope so, otherwise what was the point of having him!?

"Some..." I began, accidentally taking in loose gravel. I coughed it out and resumed. "Some ambush you had there." Another cough or two. "How long were you following me?"

"Mmm, can't be sure. I'll just leave that up to you!" Suddenly I wondered what I could say.

"You're hot, you know that?"

"Why, thank you! But I'm not interested. If I am, it's because I _make myself interested_. And let me tell you..." I thought I heard her smacking her lips. "I think I'm interested right now!" It made total sense.

"Good to hear." Ddraig was surfacing, but Akeno was already shifting. She removed her foot and stepped aside. Just a little bit longer...

A kick to the side and ribs certainly didn't help matters a lot, and with that same foot she rolled me over. The curb dropped away and I was laying in the street. There were no cars and no people passing by at all. Akeno skipped down and knelt on me, placing a knee on my stomach and grinning happily as I started to gasp. My entire body was starting to twitch a little. I hadn't lied: she was quite attractive, if you're into long dark hair and big chests and such. Just like Rias had not too horribly long ago, she leaned herself in close, placing more weight on the knee in my stomach. I was sputtering, and gasping like a fish. I'm not sure where the act began and actual pain ended.

"I can't really see why she likes you," she told me, licking her lips again. I was hoping to mouth something but nothing really came out. What was taking Ddraig so long!? My entire left forearm was essentially gone, and I was in some level of danger here!

"But then again..." she continued, moving her other leg on top of me as well. "My tastes are always being called into question." I needed a moment to register that she was _straddling_ me. One hand came up, slender and pale and surgical in its movements, and resumed my asphyxiation. It was her right hand. She threw her head back in complete mockery of the act she was simulating. Not only was her grip horribly tight and digging into my flesh, but a buzzing sensation was starting to dull everything. I could no longer tell what the light was like because my vision was getting murky. It could've marked the extinction of every light in the universe and I couldn't tell you.

 _"I would take pleasure in rejoicing with her... but all the better for simply destroying."_

About time!

Even through dimming vision and that fragile need for oxygen, the world seemed to be getting greener. Like when you clamp your eyeballs shut and when you reopen them everything looks faintly blue, but green instead. Akeno, shuddering as she distracted herself from whatever she'd been sent to do, suddenly found herself jerking away in surprise. Probably fear, too. We didn't know what she knew, or anyone else, but a little display of power never hurt anyone. Yet.

We knew to get to our feet, so we did. Already, I felt my skin turning inside out as Ddraig took his knightly Dragon body. And now two became one, and we were glorious.

"Ooh, cool," Akeno commented. "At least now there's no doubt about it: **I think I'm wet**!" That didn't concern us one bit. She stuck out her tongue at us again. Then she started to ready herself for combat, taking a recognizable stance. I was pretty sure she'd shuffled across a rug in her socks (and her socks only), judging by the way she was starting to spark. Her jet-black hair was showing a little dark blue in it. It was quite attractive.

 ** _"Which one of us goes first?"_** We asked with some rhetoric.

"I think you'd've already guessed I prefer to be the initiator!" And then she leapt at us as what all of a sudden looked like a very sexy ball of lightning. And that's exactly what it was. We were ready. Or so we thought.

We tumbled back the ground with enough force to turn smooth pavement to gravel, and dug hard into the ground as she was already zooming towards us again. We heard heavy beating of what we knew to the absurd leather-black batwings indicative of a Devil. If we'd known one of them was actually more crow-black with feathers, what came after this event would've been fascinatingly ironic.

"Taste the lightning, bitch!" She cackled joyfully, and we did exactly that. It didn't knock us over or back, but we were distracted as she suddenly switched mediums and tried to stab at us with what we could guess was some sort of magic spear. This was futile: it shattered in twelve places and tumbled to the ground in thirteen pieces.

We lifted ourselves from the ground and reciprocated, and with our one mouth were gathering flame when we made contact with Akeno. We were about to unleash this on her when suddenly we were... pulled off, and falling!

We never saw who or what had done so, but instead turned our attention back to Akeno. With all our unholy fury we spit flame upon her, and for a moment expected victory to be absolute. This was a lie.

Instead we were treated to a not-quite-as-tantalizing image: we had left the girl untouched as her Kuoh Academy uniform had been burned away, leaving her mostly naked. Were we not doing battle, we'd be tempted to take her and rejoice right now. Ddraig had even done so twice before when he was still whole, in the middle of battle. Issei had not inquired further into either event. Her wings were folded up behind her, again hiding the Two-Face image from us. We saw now that the sky overhead aligned with our last check of time: only four or so in the afternoon. No bother now.

We charged her again, clawed arms outstretched to grab at her naked form, and she smiled.

Once again we found ourselves being halted - not just stopped but again dragged back. This time we saw what - and who - it was.

It was a small, very light-haired girl in Kuoh uniform that Motohama would recognize. She stood above us where we'd fallen. Akeno, still proudly naked, walked over to join her, breasts bouncing freely and gravel grinding under her feet.

"Why, thank you! I'd be extremely mad at you under most circumstances, but he wasn't a very interesting opponent," she told Koneko, who crouched to scoop us up again. We tried to break free but quickly found ourself on the ground, crumbling gravel further into dust. We tried scrambling to our feet but a single well-placed kick upset balance long enough for us to fall again.

"Stay down," Koneko whispered to us matter-of-factly. "Any sign of resistance and we can kill you."

"What she said. You weren't worth the battle. Oh, I think it'd do no harm if we were to tell you what we were sent here for. You can probably guess anyway."

 _ **"Go on."**_

"Our master really needs your help. Or so she says. After two of us taking down one of you, I don't think that's really necessary." She smacked her lips again. "I think it's..." Her eyes darted down, and we knew where she was looking. "It's something else, isn't it?"

 _ **"You tell us."**_

Koneko dropped a foot on our chest, hard enough that it felt like something would snap. In this state we didn't need oxygen. Good thing, too.

"Normally, I absolutely _love_ backtalk," Akeno continued. "But after that pitiful display I can safely say I've lost my taste for it. And despite being the cute little sex-bait that she is, Koneko- _chan_ here can probably crack your armor if you get her motivated enough." Let's see her try. She'd likely succeed.

Instead, Ddraig elected to retreat. This was probably a bit quick, but he was certainly doing little now. After I was turned right-side-out again, I tried to exhale nervously. Koneko's foot never once moved, and as soon as the process was complete I felt a horrible _snap_ in my chest, like a big truck had rolled over me. She removed her leg, leaving what I could guess was what, two or three ribs shattered? I finished the breath as best I could, but it felt like my entire chest was in a big vise, and tightening fast.

"At least now I can make you an unwilling servant," Akeno commented. "You've had your pride broken and your body a little bit so, too. Where can you go from here? I'd say either death or bliss, and I'm not big on death." She turned to Koneko. "I think you're done here. I'll bring him back when I've had my fun, and tell _Madame President_ that I'm not taking no for an answer."

"Whatever you say," the freshman replied. I wasn't surprised that she had essentially no reaction to her club-mate was completely naked.

 _"I can provide you with fire, when you're ready,"_ Ddraig told me. _"Wait until the little one is gone."_ I knew that, of course. Anyone with surprise and smarts can defeat an enemy, but anyone can also be easily quelled if they have too little of either one.

And then all at once Koneko was gone. Magic? Maybe. That left Akeno, strutting around at maybe four in the afternoon, completely naked, not a soul in sight. And why did it look like sunset? Was that what it was? Despite the time, it clearly wasn't just normal sky!

( _"I think that might be because it's not blue. It's purple."_ )

And suddenly Akeno was the man with the gun. At least if I died there'd be no one to see it. Maybe Ophis and Shiva and Yasaka, but in the end who were they? They were all understanding enough, and people died all the time, right? But there was... something wrong about that. But of course there was. Wasn't there always? And of course the pain in my chest would keep me alive, as long as I was fully aware of it. Why else would it hurt so badly? Why, to keep breathing, of course!

"You look lost in thought," Akeno told me, and for a moment I wondered if I was seeing double. Instead, it was the Devil leader that was naked, and Akeno in the anonymous coat and waving the revolver. "Can't have my submissives distracted with daydreaming about me, can I?"

I laughed. Probably shouldn't have.

"No," I was yelling. "No, you cannot!" Akeno bent over, bringing an arm down on my chest. I coughed. That hurt just as much as the hand itself. Think of a trampoline, but the trampoline itself is a big wooden table suspended by coils, and you hop on it until the coils start snapping and flying every which way. Now, that big round table breaks itself to bits under the weight of the arm on it.

Now, think of a lighter. Swallow it, and let your uvula flick it to life in your throat. Take big breaths by a bonfire, or drink something hot. Get sick with an ailment of the throat and cough until something thick and red and fleshy comes out. If you're brave, swallow gasoline and spit it back up as fire. These two things together managed to make breathing kind of difficult; horribly painful, even. Especially when a naked sadomasochistic demon that looks like a big-chested schoolgirl's standing over you, grinning like she'll bite a chunk out of your neck. She whispered in my ear, and her ponytail fell over on my pinned right arm.

"Now, where were we? Oh, yes! I want to do things to you. And there's not anyone to stop me, is there? I know you want me to." All three sentences were more or less the truth.

She leaned forward, maybe to kiss me, maybe to really tear a chunk out of my neck. I never gave her the chance to show me which. I'd coughed up a lighter, and with it all of Ddraig's fire that he had given me. She must not have been expecting it, because she fell over to one side, giving me enough time to get up and run. Ddraig wouldn't return yet; not for a while, even. That left me to limp along however I could, wherever and whenever I happened to be, or with whoever would help. Respectively, that would be: painfully, across oddly quiet Kuoh streets, supposedly around four in the afternoon, and likely on my own for now.

My legs were moving before I was even aware I was on my feet. Behind me, Akeno was getting to her own feet. I had no idea what she was thinking, and I didn't care. Right now, all I needed to do was run. Of course, when you're running for your life you're not thinking too much about where you go, and so I ran in the opposite direction.

* * *

...

* * *

I think I might've blacked out once or twice. I had no idea where I was, and I don't think I cared - I was just a crazed animal trapped in a brown box without walls, and where time moved in bursts. Where did all the people go?

 _"You're delirious,"_ the voice in my head told me. What did 'delirious' mean again? Unimportant. _Shut up_ , I hoped the voice in my head heard as I spoke with my own.

I was... somewhere. Brick walls... maybe? Somewhere dark? I tripped and fell, sliced something, shrugged it off, decided it better just to lay there for a while. My chest felt tight, and there was some distant image of a... knife... stabbing me... breaking off... some disgusting sound of something _giving_. Pinching twigs between your fingers until they made a soft _pop_ , and one became two. I rolled onto my back and tried not to breathe too hard. I couldn't do it. I wondered how hard I was being stabbed even now? Was I being stabbed at all?

My left arm was... Green? Why? And why would I remember that?

And... something... someone was... after me? I couldn't stay down for long, could I? Not if I cared. Did I care now? I didn't even know or care if I cared or not.

 _"We need to return home,"_ the voice told me. And my response: _I thought I said..._

 _Shut up!_

 _But he's right. I decide to get to my feet, groaning horribly as I do, afraid I'm stabbing myself even worse. If I am, there's nothing I can do about it, is there? And if the voice refuses to shut up, I can't do anything about that either. But if I am to keep my pursuers behind me, I must move forward. Or anywhere, really, it doesn't matter much. Easy to get lost in the big city... This **was** a big city, right?_

 _I'm thinking about... a girl? Yes, probably. It doesn't matter who - she's not here, is she?_

 _Is she?_

 _"Oh!" I hear. A small, young voice, perhaps a small child. Where am I? Two more steps, even. Just two more..._

 _One..._

 _Two..._

 _And fall. Try to keep the hands in front, because hitting the ground unprotected can be **so much worse**. The hands are practically useless for anything else right now anyway._

 _The girl - certain it is now - is some distance away. Seen her before... somewhere... once or twice._

 _"Oh, Mercy!" The girl says. Haven't seen her in a while. She's... a friend. At least, hoping so. Others may not be._

 _(Thoughts of... disgust? Somewhere.)_

 _Can't worry about it now. Everything's getting dark, and fading fast._

 _"O, Divine Mercy!"_


	9. Act II: Indoctrination

_It's not a nice place_ to _be, powerlessness._

 _The boy feels it, just as I do, and he's the one that took the most damage. Failure. His pride is still underdeveloped, but I think even here he feels that it's taken an offense. He was beaten up by two young girls, and I with him, so neither of us can really blame the other._

 _He's still resting, and in horrible pain. Let him have this time. Meanwhile, I might need to reconsider events. This should not have happened. Between us, all the power the world could grant, reduced to fumbling on the ground, scurrying away with the cockroaches!_

 _I can't even tell where we are right now. The boy had told me to shut up, and I vanished, even if I thought little of his orders. I don't think going out on my own would do him any favors. He's got the disadvantage of bodily weakness, and that's out of my control. His too, but we're both stuck with it. Unconscious, in some dark place, dangers awaiting us when we return to the 'real world'._

 _We will have to be better, undoubtedly. Stronger, more alert. Less time dawdling at school. Issei knows this, yet he goes anyway. Friends, I believe I can understand, but little else of it. He should be helping the Cause, or whatever they were calling it these days. And there'd be more destruction to reap, and more rejoicing to be had! What purpose did it serve to do anythig else? He certainly would like that, so what holds him back?_

 _Regardless, it was what allowed the temptress to find him, and that led here. That probably would've happened anyway, yet here we are now, lost. Who was that girl? I could recognize her no more than he could. But it was possible she'd saved us, and it was possible she had condemned us._

 _If that is the case, I don't care who she is to Issei, I hate her, just as I hate those Devils for besting us! They were insignificant! The entire violent encounter was a disgrace, hardly worthy of any of its participants! Yes, even our aggressors, who deserved more of a challenge! They would be defeated anyway, and less inclined to strut about and taunt us. Issei was injured because of them, and they injured him because of me._

 _I'm undeserving of everything. I failed to save myself or anyone else the first time, and as a fraction of myself I still cannot do so here, with a simple host I cling to so we both can survive. If what Ophis says is true, no new Dragons should have such an incompetent coward as a sire! Better even to die out right now, so none of my offspring would - !_

* * *

I opened my eyes and immediately knew I was in an uncomfortable bed. I tried to twist, but you can imagine how that hurt! I groaned loudly and decided against it, content with less pain if I simply just remain still. Something metal groaned, probably rusty bed springs, or maybe a loose bedpost. Whatever it was, it also told me that this bed was probably much older than I was.

Thankfully, I wasn't cold. A blanket or two had been thrown on top of me, as far as I could tell. And, just as fortunate, I'd managed to make the trip here and remain in my same clothes. When you wear a school uniform, I imagine you can tell when you're out of it.

And then my eyes started sending their information, too. It was somewhere dimly-lit, not grimy but far from sterile. I saw a window overhead that filtered everything through a sheet of brown. Leaves and caked-up dirt, maybe?

I should probably get out of here. But I just don't want to. Anyone who's ever had a rough night and a decent morning knows the feeling, supernatural beatings or not. Of course, most teenage boys also know the feeling of what can accompany simply waking up and finding their minds wandering. I guess even I knew to go there. I felt instinctively that Ddraig wouldn't surface for some time now. Great. That'd leave me alone in a strange place with who knows what injuries, and...

I'd been delirious, but I could remember a girl. Had she brought me here? An image of her, whoever she was, struggling to dragging me by the shoulders, begged to be completed.

Let's try this again, one more time. I tried getting up, or even moving at all. All at once everything felt like it was stabbing or punching or kicking everything else. No, I'd just have to stay here. I couldn't even really move my head. What time was it? A dirty window can really hide a lot.

I didn't know it, but Ddraig had reached much the same conclusion. And, of course, I knew what he knew: last night (or whatever night it was) shouldn't've happened. Why had it? And how had we gotten away? The way it had all happened... I knew - or thought I did - how Devil peerages worked, but specialized powers? Akeno was energy-based, and Koneko had displayed absurd strength. That would've been good to know. Who all knew it? The Youkai _should._ Ophis _should._ Shiva _should_. Yet, did they? This may sound extremely rhetorical, but typically in a battle with Devils the losers are dead before they can say anything. Or, perhaps, blabbering and blubbering so badly you can't form the words to say the loli has super-strength.

You know what? I was going to call out, with words of my own this time:

"Hello? Your prisoner has regained consciousness!" They were a little slurred, but I'd like to think they carried enough of Ophis' trademark contagious kindness and cooperative charisma. I couldn't hear it echo, which told me this room was reasonably small. Or perhaps everything was draped in carpet.

But wherever it was, and however big it was, it was occupied by more than one.

"And hello, the jailer answers," a girl responded. About my age, probably. That still told me absolutely nothing. I heard footsteps: hollow, wooden clicking of shoes against hard floor. I still couldn't see her, though.

And then I did. It was Asia. Asia Argento. Partially standing in that little light, she stood over me like a doctor over a patient. That's exactly what this was, wasn't it? She wore the same dress/robe/whatever-you'd-call-it, or an extremely similar one.

"Where am I?" I asked her.

"My church," she told me, and I thought I heard concern. The location didn't sink in immediately. "You were delirious and very badly injured when I found you."

"Sounds about right." I groaned again. "Did you happen to have a less painful bed?" Again, I tried moving, and she brought down her hands on my arm. I briefly wondered if I would've had some searing pain where her fingers met my skin.

"Don't move. I counted three broken ribs and countless cuts and bruises. I would've - "

"So?" I guess that's around the time I remembered the Angels. I snapped at her, and with great pain managed to shift myself and sit up. "You would've what? Exorcised me of the demon that made me sick, or crazy?" Hopefully, that's when I remembered how not to act like a jerk. I stopped myself after that last sentence, still aware of her hands resting on my arm.

"That wasn't necessary," she told me.

"I know. Sorry."

"And I say unto you, seventy-seven-times-seven."

"Wouldn't it be seventy-seven-times-five?' Bad math, even I knew that after a moment. Asia gave me a puzzled look, but had to smile. I grinned too. "But really, would you have something less painful? It's..." And Asia suddenly let go. A bolt of outward-crushing ran from one end to the other long enough to tell me to sit the hell down. It wasn't so much a sit, or even a collapse, so much as it was a complete fall back to earth. And the stabbing bed welcomed me like it was made of thorns. I couldn't finish the thought. Asia stopped me. She must've forgotten about herself for a moment, and her powers.

"Oh, my apologies." She held her hand up for me to see. "I can't do anything about the bed. It's all we have. There is..." she began, letting her hand glow a soft green. "There is something I can do, that'll help. I would've done it before, but some things require that you know," she told me.

And suddenly Ophis' earlier comment made sense. Sort of. I was supposed to sense anyone with the power to be turned into a Dragon, however that was supposed to work. There was something it was tied to. Dragons were 'dismembered by the cosmos itself', as she had described many times. And that had created little things called Sacred Gears - cogs in the grand machine that was once a grand being. And were they all Dragons? Probably not. But it was genetics, and so the race could live on. And Asia Argento had a bit of a Dragon's genes. She laid her glowing hand down on my chest, and for the briefest of moments I doubt I've ever been more aroused. And in the moment that followed, all of that seemed to... flow out. Not in the sexual release way, so much as the "you don't need this anymore" way. Bad things and tense things and unsatisfied things draining away as only contentment remained. And breathing became a bit easier.

I laid there for a moment, panting, suddenly squirming. Her hand rested on my chest a moment longer. I had to stare back at her, too.

"Thank you," I replied. "As you could've guessed, that was kind of painful." I glanced down at my chest again, and the hand still on it. She brought that hand up, and the characteristic green glow of a Sacred Gear was fading fast.

"You're welcome," she replied. And then she sat there for a moment beside my bed, just staring off into the distance. Probably the wall above my head. I was waiting to see if she'd have anything else to say, then decided to gather what information I could.

"Uhm, Asia?" I began. She turned her head back to me. Her eyes were green too. A natural green, not related to the Sacred Gear. What color had Irina's eyes been? Green, maybe? Or something like it? I continued, trying to put that out of my mind for now.

"How long have I been here?" I asked her first.

"Just overnight," she responded. "Not even twelve hours. I'm impressed," she added. Was she sincere, or was that just beside manner? Not important. Facts are important. Next question. I was at a church. Depending on the specifics, that was very bad.

"Who else is here now?"

"Myself, primarily. There are others that come and go, but at the moment we're alone."

"Can I leave?" Rhetorical question, really. If what Ophis said was true, this would be about more than simple teenage lust, if it could even be called that. But if I stayed here I would likely be caught.

"That is up to you," she answered. "But I've healed you." Then, I think that's when she realized how mild my own reaction had been to her power. Maybe it was surprise that transcended surprise, but I'd think that's just an excuse for horror writers to gloss over what their characters are thinking. She realized that, too, probably. "You didn't seem surprised at all."

I remembered now that more pain and weakness would not accompany this next attempt to get up. I sat up, swinging my feet to the ground and brushing the chair she'd pulled up.

"If I'm here because of an injury like the ones I had, they were likely to be inflicted somewhere with other things that you can't call normal. Besides, you probably felt it too." Had she? Could she, even?

"I did," she said. "I guess that's why I really waited until you were conscious before I healed you." The opposite of what she'd initially explained it as. And again, I found myself wondering: is this _Irina's_ opposite? What made me think that? Probably nothing.

"Again, it's much appreciated. But I should probably leave. Right now."

* * *

You'll never think much of coincidences until they happen. For example: how little sense does it make for some random thing to reinforce something else being talked about at that present moment? In books and movies and such, these things are common. Symbolism is often represented by characters observing things that parallel their own situations; that's just a coincidence too, and "not likely" to happen in real life.

As I asked Asia if I could leave, an Angel came knocking. Not really, but more of a materialization in another room. Asia's eyes suddenly flared with something I believed was fear. I wasn't surprised by that.

"Under the bed!" she ordered at a whisper's volume. I nodded. It was small and cramped, but I expected nothing else. She pulled out blankets and then shoved them in around me, in the hope of hiding the teenage boy with the Dragon. My face was completely obscured, and so I was obscured too. And, I realized, Asia's Sacred Gear should hide mine, so long as she stayed in the room. Except, she didn't know about that, did she? If not, then this would just be insanely lucky. A door opened and shut, and a pair of shoes hit the floor as their wearer moved forward. I clamped my eyes for some reason.

"Asia," a deep, holy voice boomed - Angel. ( _Shit!_ ) "It is good to see you."

"Thank you, Master Angel," Asia responded. "What do you need?"

"For now, nothing." His footsteps drifted closer to the door, and a nervous knot tied itself in my stomach. "You just keep yourself on call." Was that a nervous gasp I'd just heard? I _did_ hear a couple steps forward, that much was certain.

"Thank you," she repeated, probably trying to suck up to him to avoid pissing him off. I'd probably lose the element of surprise just taking the time to get out from under this bed. Push the blankets aside and crawl out and he'd be ready. Anyway, Ddraig still wasn't back from his brooding, or whatever he was doing.

"That's not necessary," the Angel told her. "We don't need any thanks."

"Oh. I will... keep that in mind. Will you be here long?"

"A bit, depending on how things happen."

"Has Doriel arrived?"

"Not yet. He's always been sloppy."

"And what would he be doing?" A step forward, and another step back. And then... I thought I heard a blow, perhaps a slap. Asia cried out.

"If you were to know, then you would not need to ask." Why had he done that? A simple display of power? Angels were certainly full of themselves, but this must've really boggled me. Were they _trying_ to make me hate them? "Otherwise, you don't pry, understand?" His tone remained perfectly casual the entire time.

"I understand, Master Angel," Asia replied, trying to keep her tone flat.

"Good. I'll expect you to be ready within two days."

"For what?" Another slap, but this time she managed to stifle any cry of response.

"Just _be ready_ ," he told her. "We'll inform you of more when the time comes." And with that, he strolled out. I stayed under there for some amount of time not worth measuring before Asia tapped the bed with her shoe. I pushed aside a wad of blankets and took my time getting to my feet. Asia was staring at me still. And I stared back.

Asia was servant to these Angels, who had Fallen and were known for manipulating the Church for their bidding. You know all of this already, and so did I, but she herself knew nothing of them nor this description of their relationship.

I didn't ask her why she remained here; not only was it insensitive, even for me, but it answered itself. Instead, I asked about this:

"Are you hurt?" She shook her head. Of course not.

"These punishments are insignificant. They're the ones with authority, after all."

"But what if they're not?" That was a bad question. Either she wouldn't listen or give some indoctrinated answer. But she did the first, simply ignoring it and moving on. She crossed the room, and my eyes followed her to where she stared up at some painting of a Biblical scene.

"They really are beautiful," she told me blankly, not really trying to say anything but just something. Or maybe she had some deep meaning that I missed. Then she turned to stare at me, kind smile long gone, any sign of pain gone with it. "You should leave."

I had to object. I mean, I couldn't just leave here, knowing what I did! But of course, I was. In the real world, that was how things worked, wasn't it? Learn about terrible things and move on to let them continue and get on with your life? Yasaka would've said so, and she lost a daughter doing exactly that. Was Asia my Kunou? Or another Irina? Both were gone now, so what would it even matter, either way?

"I will," is what came out. But with it, I added: "In time."

She continued to stare at me, as if trying to see what could possibly make me want to stay. But what wouldn't? Was she some incredible damsel in distress to dangle in front of the hero like a carrot? I certainly saw it that way. I could save her.

"And what time is that?" She replied, sounding a bit frustrated now. Couldn't blame her for that. She couldn't exactly afford to act that way around them, and I was an intruder anyway.

"I don't know." Then something else occurred to me. "Do you have free time at all?" She nodded. "I saw you outside the school a while ago. Do they let you out on your own?"

"Yes. Probably not now, though. And keep your voice down." Had I raised it? Probably.

"Okay, I'll figure something out." I couldn't figure out what yet, and I wouldn't get the chance unless some cosmic entity liked coincidence. "I'll probably be going soon."

* * *

I still needed to figure out what to do next. Absolutely no idea at this time. Asia was here, and I'd seen that she was disposable in the eyes of the Angels. I could stay and try to convince her of that. I could also honor her wishes and simply go. But what then? The Youkai Alliance made themselves enemies of practically everyone that didn't fall under the "Alliance" part, and Angels were no exception. Adding to that, I'd been attacked by Devils to end up here. There's no scenario where _that_ won't cause problems.

And what next?

She was a Dragon, wasn't she? Ophis would call this a missed opportunity. But also a risk. I could be found out. With surprise - and no Ddraig - I could die. I didn't want that. But...

Even still, how would I convince her to go with me? I probably couldn't. Better, how would she leave this behind? I think I needed to know more. And I had to stay to do that. It should be worth the risk.

I stayed in that room for a while, waiting until Asia returned from her chores or whatever it was she was doing. It must've been something of little importance, because no one came. I was there for what could've been several hours, and the clock overhead told me so. It was small, and everything was small wooden shelves, piles of blankets and some old books, the clock, a painting or two, and the bed I'd been assigned to. How had Asia carried me here? Was that another aspect of her powers?

I spent most of that time laying on the bed, checking the walls for magic runes (or anything, really), and just standing around. At this point, I was sitting on the bed. Boys get bored easily, as most humans do. And a human's mind drifts. With teenagers, there's a group of places it goes. For teenage boys, specifically, it's typically between two things. Legs, lips, breasts, et cetera. Asia had all of the above. I found myself wishing I could see more, and also that I was a little embarrassed to find myself thinking that way. No reason for it, just some sense of _wrong._ That'd be like thinking about - !

No, I wouldn't do that. Or at least, I'd hope I wouldn't. But I did, of course. "She had no right being that hot," as Matsuda would say. And it was quite something...

 _"Forgive me, Father, for I will sin," Asia moans, planting her lips on mine, mouth open to let The Tongue through! What's she wearing? I'll let my hands figure that one out. Whatever it is, it fits her form like a glove, but even better._

 _"And you'll enjoy it," I add for her after breaking the kiss. She nods timidly._

 _"I will. A lot." I look down to see where we are. She's sitting on some sort of altar in what appears to be a Catholic school girl's uniform. I'd be laughing if the pure sensuality of it wasn't so serious. Her skirt's length, however, is absurd enough to warrant a smile; I want it to look almost predatory. Is she starting to glow? A soft green color. Come to think of it, my entire field of vision is that shade, like I held my arms over my eyes and when I reopened them everything had gone a single color._

 _"Hurry, I want to save the Dragons!" Then, dropping her volume, she adds: "And I want you." She smiles lowly, and leans her eyes down. "I want that." I look down, worried that my pants have ripped. They haven't, but they obviously weren't made to hold something so BIG!_

 _"Oh, you want it?" I ask her. Now I'm REALLY excited! I shove her down on the altar, readying both of us for what is to come... in more ways than one._

And in my mind, we did the deed. But it was weird. It was like all the best things about sex were missing. There was no buildup, barely any climax, and overall it was actually a bit disappointing, especially as a fantasy. I could always just diddle myself and be done with it. But this was a holy place, and even I figured that despite everything, a little superstition never hurt anyone. Eventually I just kind of forgot about it.

Eventually, I think I even fell asleep. Or at the very least, blinked and found myself in the same place with several hours gone by. Asia was standing over me, and I knew how much my fantasy had twisted things. Timid, she really wasn't, under it all.

"You still haven't left." She was getting impatient.

"I know," I responded, swinging my feet to the floor and getting to my feet. "I'll be gone by the end of the day. I have people waiting and looking for me, and I'd like to think I'm not cruel enough to keep them waiting and looking. At least, I hope not."

She just kept staring down at me for a while, like I had something else to say and she knew it. Given a bit of time, she knew correctly.

"So, are you heading out today after all?"

"I am. You'll join me, and you'll return to wherever it is you live."

"Where to first?"

"I don't know yet," she told me. For the most part, that was a lie. I got up, and followed her through the door, out into the hallway, up some stairs into some kind of lobby, and out the front door. It was around noon or so, and it never once occurred to me that I should feel dirty, hungry and/or eager to return home, because I felt none of those things. And I wasn't concerned about anyone wondering what we were doing out of school. Maybe this nice girl was simply helping a disadvantaged boy out of the goodness of her heart, and it should be left at that. I could certainly pass for that, for sure.

I lied about not being hungry at all, actually. But more on that later, perhaps.

* * *

We started walking around town with what appeared to be no real goal. Asia seemed nice enough, but everyone gets fed up with something, and someone. She was silent for most of the time, and once I got to know her better I'd recognize how uncharacteristic this was. I could even see that just based on my first impression of her. And I had to wonder if she couldn't somehow tell how I thought about her.

Part of that, I could guess, had been my initial reaction when she'd met with the Angel. This was normal for her. I was the intruder here, and even if she was willing to hide me under a bed she'd still not be swayed by my presence, let alone my reaction.

And Doriel. He'd probably been that one I'd encountered two days ago, right? Crap. Given any amount of added knowledge she could guess that I'd had something to do with that. I did myself no favors here. But she was a humanitarian, right? 'Love God, and show it through people'?

That dream I'd had was right. That would be seventy-eight-times-seven.

I had no idea why we were walking, either, until I saw what could happen, and what probably did happen. We were on a sidewalk in some downtown part of the city, while a handful of cars passed by, and a few other people were out and about. There was some restaurant that pedestrians passed in front of when we saw it. More like 'nearly collided with it'.

A small kid on a bike had been speeding behind us with a ninja's silence and a raging bull's finesse. His only advance warning had been a little whoop as he reached speeds that would warrant paralysis should he make a sudden stop into, say, a parked car. He whizzed by, giving me just enough time to avoid the collision myself.

"Hey, watch where you - !" He didn't stop, but looked back at me long enough to take his eyes off where his bike was going. He had training wheels on. He twisted his handlebars and careened into a silver car parked in front of the restaurant. Unfortunately, the helmet he wore didn't cover his face, and you can't exactly save an arm from being dislocated by elbow pads. He tried to get his arms out to break his collision but couldn't do it fast enough. Asia gasped as a human body met a scenario it hadn't covered in "How to Save a Fragile Human From Painful Injury".

The bike itself was okay, but the kid slumped down off the hood of the car, crying and holding a bloody nose with his good arm, falling on his injured one and getting an awkward landing on top of the contorted four-wheeled pain machine before rolling off onto the sidewalk again. No one in the restaurant noticed or cared, and there were so few people out at this time of day on a Wednesday anyway that we were the closest thing he had to first responders. He was wailing in what I could only guess was horrible pain. I'd had a bit of that, and it would be taken care of in much the same way.

Asia had stepped forward before I was aware the boy was seriously hurt, already glowing faintly.

"What can I do?" I asked her, hoping not to be useless here - I probably would be, but I'd hope not. Asia had no time to respond, as she was already kneeling beside him, hand coming to rest on the hand clutching his nose. He stopped crying almost instantly, and his hand came away easily.

A woman came running up behind us.

"Oh, my God!" She shouted, half-sobbing. "Bobby!" Hopefully she was too concerned about her son to notice that Asia Argento's hands were glowing. She did, however, notice that her hands were on her injured son, who was starting to look surprisingly uninjured. There was still a bit of blood coming from his nose, but his bad arm no longer dangled loosely, instead pointing up to his mother. I expected her to immediately wrestle her off of Bobby, but she stood there, and I saw she was now into a full crying-mode. Asia looked up to Bobby's mother.

"He collided with a car, but he's mostly unharmed." She had this kind of serene, comforting smile that could only confirm he was no longer in harm's way, and I realized now that either this was all just business, or she was genuinely happy that she had just helped someone. The mother got down to cradle her son, and Asia got up and stepped away to let her. I saw that his nose had not stopped bleeding, but the blood had dried into a crusty solid, and Bobby's mom scraped it off his face with ease. The blood on the car was fresh, however, and I saw Asia wiping it with her sleeve.

"Oh, my God!" She repeated, and I'm pretty sure Asia cringed ever so slightly, but I was the only one looking. "It's a miracle you weren't hurt any worse than you were!" She didn't even let Bobby speak, as she was doing most of that for him. She hugged her son, got him to his feet, and they kept on walking, Bobby's mother carrying his little, deformed bike with one arm and holding his hand with the arm her purse dangled from. We watched them go in some shared sort of casual fascination.

And - again with the coincidences - my stomach rumbled, and I clenched it out of reflex. When had I eaten last? It had to be something approaching 24 hours by now if not more.

"We're here," she told me, and suddenly pointed to the restaurant inside. And she was still smiling. That was probably just habit, but it told me several things, which probably are better shown than told. And they were shown as we went inside to share a lunch.

* * *

The cashier gave us one look and I immediately got some sense that she was shrugging on the inside.

"This way, please," she told us, and took two menus and led us to a booth. Unironically, it was a window booth, and I could see where Bobby's bike had left a nasty dent. She placed a menu on one side and one on the other, and we sat ourselves down accordingly. "Enjoy your meal," she added almost skeptically.

"We will. Thank you," Asia replied. Then she went off to service someone else, leaving us to share what we would.

"Thanks," I told her.

"You were hungry, and we were here," she responded.

"But still, I guess it means a lot."

"If doesn't. Helping others is the only way any of us are going to survive in this world God has given us. That's how He wants it." I had to laugh, and hope that she didn't take it the wrong way. "What's so funny about that?"

"Nothing," I replied, and meant it. "I guess you know what you're talking about." And I realized that this would be a great time to start asking her questions about herself. Maybe if we both knew more about each other, then... I couldn't even tell you for certain, but I wanted to. "Is this your first time here?" She nodded. "In Kuoh, or in this restaurant?"

"Both. I have no idea how the food is here, but I'm certain it's better than whatever we get at the church." I smiled a little at that, and she reciprocated, which told me that that had been the point.

"And speaking of which..." I began, drumming my fingers on the menu. "What brought you here?"

"You first," she replied, suddenly becoming somewhat timid again. Was that a good thing or a bad thing? Time to find out. I told her what I could, although you'll see I stuck very religiously to answering exactly the question she'd asked.

"Nothing much. My parents died when I was six, and I went to live with someone else for a while - to keep it simple she called herself my aunt, but I doubt that's really the case. We moved around a bit before settling here, in Kuoh, where we've lived for the past two years or so." How much did Asia know about supernatural activity in Kuoh? And that leads to another question: could she detect my Sacred Gear instinctively, as I could with hers? "Your turn." I leaned forward a bit more, making it clear how eager I was to hear what she had to say.

"I was born somewhere in Europe, although I can't remember where. My parents died before I could remember either of them, and I was taken in by the local convent. And then I was taken to another, and many more before I arrived here. Because of my... Abilities, the Angels sought after me personally, and I've been traveling with them for several years now."

There was a bit of silence as neither of us were sure how to follow up on that. At least, until I remembered what question her answer had led into.

"So, tell me about your powers." She stiffened a bit, then started looking around. It was an establishment half-full of chatting customers and a handful of waiters, wiping down emptied tables, seating new arrivals and taking orders. And all of a sudden, I heard two blokes cackling on barstools. I turned and saw one was reaching his arm over the other's shoulder, throwing his head back to laugh heartily. I turned back to Asia. Irina and I had told each other jokes all the time.

"Just don't be that guy, and we don't have anything to worry about." She smiled. "Besides, it's magic." But, of course, it wasn't. Really, aside from the people at school, everyone I knew was magical. "But that doesn't mean much, does it?" I asked her. And she nodded, the smile suddenly becoming grim.

But she told me anyway.

"It was when I was still in a convent school. I was walking with a school group when I saw a dog in the road. I ran out to help it, and didn't know I could do anything until I cradled its head. I'd started crying when it barked and licked my ear." She smiled, probably still getting some satisfaction from finding out that dog was alright. "Those nuns informed the greater Church. I was sent to live with Angels, and Exorcists. I was even brought before the Pope, and showed him my Gift From God. I could tell he was tempted by Satan to want the body of a child, but he told me about the role I would play in days to come.

"Eventually, we were brought here. Kuoh is rife with unnatural forms of evil that mock God's creation, and so there is no better place to begin my mission." She looked up at me - I think for the first time since we'd left the church, she'd looked me in the eyes. Her own were green, and admittedly very beautiful. No Catholic schoolgirl's outfit, nor a Kuoh Academy uniform, but it was real. "I shouldn't have told you all of that, should I?"

"Like you said, this is Kuoh. Strange stuff here shouldn't surprise anyone." She gave a little shrug at that. "How else do you think I found you?" She gave me a puzzled look. Admittedly, that was an exaggerated way to put it. "Okay, that's a lie. But I think we have a few secrets to share with one another. You've already told me some of yours, and I imagine it's my turn."

A waitress came up to our booth.

"What'll we be havin' fer drinks?" She asked us with something of a drawl.

"Water for me," I told her. "You too?" I asked Asia. She nodded. "Two waters." She nodded, and left to let us resume.

"What secrets do you have, Issei?"

"Lots. Where do I begin, even?"

"Try... At the beginning. Not leaving things out, like you did the first time." We both smiled, for very different reasons. I leaned back against the booth, and did what I could to gather everything. Were Dragons considered Satanic in the Bible? I let my eyes drift down to where I fidgeted with my napkin.

"I had a friend in the Church. We were both pretty young, but we were inseparable. At least, we were until a couple of Devils hunting her family happened to find mine. They killed my parents, but... something happened, and I killed them." I looked up at Asia, then decided I'd string her along a bit. That big reveal was more of a twist ending kind of thing.

"Later, her parents found us, and after dropping me off somewhere, they just... left. I never saw them again. Devils continued to hunt me as well, and my adopted sister was murdered. After a few years of traveling around, trying to stay ahead of them, we found Kuoh. It's certainly not a normal town, nor a good place to hide, but we came here anyway.

"When you found me I'd just been attacked by another group of Devils who wanted me to make an alliance with them, or at least do something for them." Now I raised my eyes. "They wanted something I had: the thing that let me kill my parents' killers."

"What was that?"

"I think it's something similar to what you - "

The waitress was fast, and she arrived to set down two glasses of water in front of us now and two straws in paper wrappers.

"Are y'all ready to order yet?"

"Uhm, not quite," I told her, looking back at Asia again, who also nodded. "Sorry."

"That's okay," she reminded us, and took off again. I picked up one of the straws.

"Anyway, it's the same thing you have, or similar enough. But it's also... different." I held out my left hand and flexed it. Was Ddraig done moping yet? I'd hope so, because I might have to show something off soon.

"What do you know about God's Gift?" She was leaning in now, like we were sharing some conspiracy theory, or perhaps a kiss. But who kissed in diners? - Wouldn't that be considered rude and inconsiderate?

"Well, each one is a part of some creature from long ago - possibly even before our universe - that was dismembered by the cosmos itself, as everyone I know puts it. And to keep themselves alive, these parts of living things seek out hosts, kind of like a parasite. Depending on what Dragon your - "

"Dragon?" And all of a sudden, her voice was raised a bit. Her eyes widened.

"Yes, but not as the Bible talks about them." I bobbed my head to side from side, thinking of something Ophis had once rambled to me about. "The Dragon in Revelation exists too, but most of them aren't like that."

"You don't know that!" She whispered harshly. I dropped my own voice to respond.

"I do. I have one in me, and in case you haven't figured it out, it's a Dragon that's been allowing you to save and heal and help people like you do. Me? That dog? Bobby, the kid out there with the bike? A Dragon helped you do that." I should probably tell you that this was a gamble, an attempt to drop a bomb and kill nobody in the ensuing explosion.

Asia leaned back in her seat, expression trying to settle on either horrible shock or total blankness. Her breathing got a little shallower, and shaky as all Heaven and Hell. Was she about to cry? It may have been a huge Revelation (pun intended?), but it wasn't that big, was it?

"A Gift From God," she repeated calmly, drawing in a thin breath and getting a trembling one out. Suddenly I wanted to reach myself over there, possibly to hug her as Ophis had with me so long ago. But despite all of this, we were still practically strangers, right?

But that wouldn't stop me!

I reached a hand over across the table, and Asia looked down at it. Then, after a moment, she shoved it away again.

I let her sit there for a while, not looking at me or anywhere, really.

 _"I am here,"_ Ddraig informed me. Good.

I placed my hand on the table, covering it with my other one so as to hide at least some of the light. But there was no light, because it was a hand, and hands don't give off light.

At least, that's what anyone sitting in this diner who wasn't Issei Hyoudou or Asia Argento would say, because we both saw it. My hand buzzed a bit as green light danced on the checkered and vaguely filthy table. Asia saw it, and I think this settled some of her unease. Just some of it. The light died down, and I flexed my fingers again, getting a decent-sounding pop from them.

Then I got an idea. It probably shouldn't ever be able to work.

I opened the straw wrapper at one end and held it to my mouth, blowing into it and launching the straw wrapper at Asia. It hit her in the shoulder. She looked down at it, then back up at me.

And she smiled again. More sincerely this time.

She raised her own straw and fired at me. It hit me in the neck.

I'm not sure exactly what happened, and I'm certain she didn't know either. And Ilike to ithink it worked because neither of us had any idea what 'it' was.

* * *

"What'll you two have?" The waitress returned for our food order. We were ready. But not for what came next. "Say, isn't that a Kuoh Academy uniform? What're you doing out of school?"

I hadn't really gotten any good excuse planned. Asia worked with it.

"He got sick and was excused this morning," Asia told the waitress. "And I've been told to monitor his condition." She took a step back and repositioned her pencil over her notepad. I saw Asia move her eyes over to me, and I recited my order.

"I'll have a hamburger and fries; whatever toppings are on there are fine, but no cheese." The waitress nodded, jotting that down, and turned to Asia. She went completely blank. She had to have something in mind, right? And she wasn't necessarily shy, was she?

For a moment I think she forgot how to speak. And then she did.

"I'll just have a cheeseburger. Sorry." The waitress jotted this down too, again nodding a bit and mouthing the order as if these actions were one.

"That's fine, hon," she responded with absolutely no attention or sincerity. "Wait here until the food's brought over." She walked away, leaving the two of us alone. Or at least as alone as you can get in a diner in the middle of a moderately-sized city.

"I didn't take you for a cheeseburger-lover," I told her. She shrugged.

"I don't think I've never had one before. But it was all I could think of, so why not?" Why, indeed. I'd never seen Irina eat a cheeseburger before, either. I hadn't seen her do a lot

 _"I like her."_ Ddraig commented. Not that he needed to say that. But, come to think of it...

"Does yours ever speak to you? - your Sacred Gear, I mean." She shook her head.

"All I've ever heard was the Voice of God, and that wouldn't be it."

"Weird." It wasn't a good idea to ask any more about things that we disagreed on. What would matter right now was that my stomach was rumbling and I needed to get home soon. Did Ophis have some sort of Sacred Gear GPS on her?

After that, I'll admit that we trailed into silence, fidgeting with our cups and napkins. We were still practically strangers, after all. Ddraig told me later about what he'd learned from his last brooding session, and had to agree with him. I wasn't aware or ready enough. I didn't think to identify whoever came through the door, especially not since I had sat down facing away from it. Asia got my attention.

"Issei?" I looked up.

"What is it?" She pointed over my shoulder and I turned.

Three Youkai had just walked in - once you learn how to recognize one you can't unsee it. In folklore, Youkai are typically eccentric, and may not quite want to pass as humans. They may swagger, or wear hats inside-out, or just leave on bits of battle armor barely masked by distortion magic. One of them wore a suit vest and running shorts. And, like Yasaka, it didn't help his disguise that his eyes were a distinct golden-brown color, almost orange but not quite. And I knew him. He went by the same Sam. I saw him as soon as he saw us.

"Those are Youkai," I told her. "In folklore they're typically shapeshifters or fairies or demons or... well, it can vary quite a bit. But don't believe that they're evil. They're possibly the best people you can have on your side. And if you know how to look, you can find one anywhere." I got up, and Asia followed my lead. Sam made his way over to us. He was alone.

"Issei?"

"It's me."

"Yasaka gave us orders to scour the town until we found out what happened to you."

"I was attacked by Devils." I gestured to Asia. "She helped me out. She also took me out to lunch. We're still waiting on that."

"Oh," Sam said. "I should at least call her, let her know you're alright."

"That'd probably be best. Go and do that." He nodded and walked out. We sat down again.

"I want to go with you," Asia said almost at once. But that shouldn't happen. I wanted it to, and probably needed it to, but she was supposed to be set in her beliefs. I couldn't have done anything that quickly, could I? Said anything that could change anyone's mind so fast? She'd spent years with Angels and other such folk - most of (if not all of) her life. Besides, I don't I'd ever actually told her I wanted her to come with me, did I? Where had this come from? I even wanted to think that this was ten years' struggle, for some reason.

"No," I responded. "I don't think you do."

"I want to go with you," she repeated, and through repetition she could say more with less.

I sighed. I didn't think I liked this, and even now, after everything, that feeling only continues to hold up. It was never that easy, and if it was, it secretly wasn't. But isn't that the naively pessimistic way of looking at it? Could be.

"At the very least, we stay until we finish our food," I agreed. "I think you deserve a last meal." It was supposed to be a joke.

* * *

...

* * *

...

* * *

 ** _I had a ramble planned but then realized it wasn't worth it. I would've talked about the concept of cognitive bias, why Asia is my favorite character in canon DxD and how I'm fully aware this didn't do her justice (even for a fanfiction with changed characters) and that I am no longer going against my master's wishes. Also that I should probably shut up and just let you read the frikkin' story._**

 ** _I do, however, want to say that I'm considering changing the two listed genres: currently I have them listed as "Fantasy" and "Mystery". Do those still apply? I can never tell, to be perfectly honest, when something I write falls under a certain genre. Of course, overthinking it could be worse, and that's never good._**

 ** _I never don't appreciate a review. "Win some, lose some, it's all the same to me," Lemmy Kilmister once said. And although this isn't what he was talking about, I'd like to think it's still applicable. If you have a real mouthful, a PM is always fun, and I do what I can to respond to everyone who reviews or PMs. Discussion really is a great tool for all participants to learn something they never would've thought of before. Good or bad, I like hearing what you have to say._**

 ** _Hope you're all doing great, and have a stupendous day._**

 ** _\- The Toa of Science Fiction_ :-{ )**


	10. Act II: Silly Boy

The meal was good. Asia clasped her hands and muttered a prayer, and, feeling guilty, I copied the gesture. We ate quickly as Sam watched, thanked our apathetic waitress, and I was about to walk out when Asia stopped me.

"Aren't you forgetting something important?" I turned.

"I don't think so." She pointed to the receipt the waitress had left us. It took me a moment to realize she was talking about a tip. "Oh!" I grinned at her. I hadn't put too much thought into it. No doubt Irina left generous tips, smiled sincerely at any uncaring waiter and thanked them for a generous service such as providing food. So did Asia. "How much?"

It was her turn to smile, perhaps a little sadly.

"I was asking you, silly."

"Three?" She nodded like a patient teacher. _I wouldn't mind a few private lessons with that one!_ I hated myself for a moment for that. Was this the friend Irina had?

Asia was practically leading for the entire way back to the house. The only person in front of her was some other Youkai whose name I didn't know, and I imagine that if she knew where we were going she wouldn't let anyone in front of her. I was directly behind her, and behind me were Sam and yet another Youkai I didn't know. As a boy in a roughed-up school uniform and an unreasonably attractive girl of the same age in some sort of nun-in-training's dress, we were the normal ones of the group.

The walk back wasn't too bad. Part of the reason I liked Kuoh was because everything just felt big, but it was all within decent walking distance from everything else. I hoped Irina - and Asia - felt the same way. I'm pretty sure she was the reason I liked it so much - Irina, I mean. We were on our feet for a decent amount of time, long enough that we all decided silent was no way to spend the time.

"So what happened?" one of the other Youkai asked me. I turned. This one was a woman that looked like Princess Leia after learning the magic of asymmetry.

"One of the Devil clans knew who I was, or thought they did. They wanted me to work for them, then attacked me after I refused. I wandered a bit when Asia took me in like the good Samaritan she was." I hoped she appreciated that last part. "And still is," I added. "And she decided she wanted to come with me, so when Sam found me she came with."

"Cool story," the other rear Youkai told me. It was a good talk. Very informative. 'Real horrorshow interview,' Ophis might've said. But I was learning.

We passed through the patch of forest separating Kuoh from the Youkai House. And between us and it, the protective field through which I passed with some lost nostalgia. I thought I heard her gasp as she went through.

"Yeah, it's quite the house."

"More like a fortress," Sam added. I think that was one of the last sentences I ever heard him say. One of them. "It's our base of operations as well."

"Interesting," she replied with no interest at all. I suddenly realized that she'd eaten her first burger. I wanted to ask her what she'd thought of it. But by the time I thought of that, we'd reached the front door. Sam stepped in first, then Asia, followed by myself and the other two Youkai. Asia stood in the center of the foyer, just gazing around.

Ophis appeared - likely out of thin air - somewhere on the second floor, and leaned her head over the railing to call out to us.

"I see you've brought a guest," she said at slightly over normal volume. And then she started moving to our left, down a staircase. I followed her the whole way down. She had this cold look that reminded me of Rias Gremory, but... definitely not. More of an impartial welcoming.

And all at once she was standing right in front of me, the toes of our shoes touching. And then her arms were around my neck, and her hair made a move to clog in my face. I spread my arms and hugged back.

"It's good you're back. Any longer and I would've actually missed you." I chuckled a little. That was why she'd said it, after all. At least, I think so. After a moment we broke the hug. With some incredible animation she approached Asia, who appeared to stiffen a bit - more than a little bit, in fact. Ophis walked around her, giving that meticulous inspector's gaze and probably playing it up to make Asia a little nervous.

"Hmm... Yes... I see... Looks good..." Then she looked up at me. "We have a winner! Sacred Gear and all!"

"What does she mean?" Ophis stopped in front of her and held out a hand.

"What it means is that you're Asia Argento, you can call me Ophis, and we're here to help you." Asia took the hand and gave it the most barely-there of shakes before quickly retreating.

"Thank you," Asia added with equal rigidity. I thought for a moment she was going to bow. I could feel in those moments that something was off, but nothing huge. Asia was in a new place, and I think it scared her, but she was the one who'd agreed to come along.

 _"She's uncertain of what her role will become, I think."_ And he was probably right. Aside from saving the Dragons, what would she do here? Become a productive member of Youkai society or something like that? I doubted that much. But surely something like it?

"Ahem," Ophis called to me. "For the moment, Issei will have you holed up in his room. Right, pumpkin?" Initially unsure about the nickname, I nodded. "He'll do that now, if you want."

"Oh, yes, thank you." She nodded to Ophis again, this time coming closer to a full bow. Then she followed me as I started heading for the left-side stairs that would lead up to the second floor. I could see her walking slowly, taking time to let it all in. I don't think she'd ever seen anything like it, and that surprise was no surprise. I waited for her at the top as she stepped over the last seven steps. Her mouth had come open a bit in a way that was somehow adorable. I wanted briefly to stick a tongue in there and see what would happen - briefly.

She reached the top.

I started by making a U-turn to her left and walking across before turning right, then stopping like a bouncer in front of my own door. I gestured with my right hand.

"Open if you dare," I told her, and she did. She turned the knob and stepped inside. I followed after her.

It looked a bit like an attic: angled ceiling, uncovered wood, scattered stuff in typical adolescent fashion, such and such. You'll notice, however, that there were no posters, no shelves, not much of anything big that wasn't a necessity. I didn't notice it either until I was walking in behind someone else. But it did have a bed, a small nightstand-or-other from somewhere, a clothes rack and a trash can. Plain grey blinds were drawn over the window that overlooked the clearing and forest beyond. The rest I couldn't be sure about.

"It's unusual," Asia said, and in that moment I forgot why. I found myself looking around for a chair, and, sure enough. I pulled it up. Which one of us sits here, which on my bed? I'd suggest both but if we did that could I stop myself? Could she? Teenagers are known for, among other things, making stupid spur-of-the-moment choices.

"Do you want to sit down?" I asked her, trying how I could to wave the chair. She nodded, and I released it for her to do so. I stepped around her to sit on my bed.

And then came an incredibly awkward silence.

 _"Cherish silence now, for you must either learn to love it, or learn to live without it._ " Wise words from Ddraig, ancient cosmic Dragon philosopher. He probably meant something about failure or stimulation. But I'd have to love it, and in theory that's easy enough.

I was laying down before I knew it. Had Ophis ever told us to wait up here, or just to show her around? If it was the latter I was even worse at taking orders than I thought! Let's hope not.

The ceiling was very inviting in its blankness, and soon I'd planted myself and didn't want to get up. My breathing slowed and came deep from my stomach, and I expected some constrictions against my insides before remembering that those constrictions didn't exist anymore. My eyes closed and I'm not sure how long they stayed there.

But then I heard Asia as she stood up to stretch. I turned my head to see her walking around her chair, and that's what inspired me to get up. I swung my feet to the floor and waited for my head to clear before addressing her in a still-a-little-slurred monotone.

"Sorry about that. Would you like to finish the tour?" Then she surprised me. She turned as I spoke, and as she processed the drugged words I saw her take on a cautious look again. Her eyes drifted down to the floor and her hands came together.

"Actually..." she began, and drifted off again. Then she raised her head just a bit to look at what I could assume was my knees, and always hope was my penis. I was getting used to being around her, thank God erections can learn when to shut up. I waited for her to continue.

"Actually, I think that can wait." She raised her eyes even further and her face took on some burning expression. She was fighting some war with a creeping smile as well, whether it be to suppress it or plaster it in place. "I was hoping for... something else."

And that's when she hopped on the bed and we made sweet love. The frogs outside were singing Mariachi tunes, moon overhead with the smiley face on it, magical fireplace popping up to bask us in orange glow, total fantastic fucking bliss.

And that's when I gave her my best "please elaborate" look. She took a moment to put something together.

"I was thinking you could tell me more about what I'll be doing here." That would work. I leaned forward and rested my elbows on my knees.

"Okay. Where do you want to start?"

"I want to start at what you said - about Dragons."

"What do you want to know?"

"What's important about them?"

"How do you know they're important?"

"It's the thing connecting you and I. And in Ophis I could feel it as well, although it was a little different." Well, that answered that question, at least. But time to answer her question, and hopefully without saying that we'll be getting rubby and make babies. I had to take a few moments myself.

"We..." If I present the problem, the solution comes with it, right? She may not be so innocent after all, but...

Wait...

Yes, that does it!

"Dragons are becoming extinct. I guess you could call Ophis their mother, their father, maybe even take it as far as to say their god." Would that be a good way to word it that it softened that blow? No time to think about it. "She saw that they were dwindling and so she started a mission to gather those that remained under one roof, and we'd align ourselves with the local Youkai and some others for protection." And for the most part that was the truth. She nodded. Did she detect the secret there?

"That sounds about right. Thank you. You needed me out of that place and I thank you for giving me the chance." Any timidness was gone again, replaced with something like... what? Anger? Determination? Nothing at all?

"To do what?"

"To do exactly that."

I couldn't guess what she was thinking, but I saw a boomerang. This would come back for her, and hard. She needed to be protected, and I could only guess that she knew it too.

* * *

We both headed back downstairs. Yasaka was waiting for me just at the bottom of the staircase and within three seconds was hugging me hard enough to get some lift. It was tight, too.

"Issei! I'm so glad you're alright!" She even kissed me on the cheek and hugged me even tighter. And as with Ophis I hugged back as best I could. She set me back down before turning to face Asia.

"I'm Yasaka," she told the younger girl. "Leader of the Youkai Alliance. You must be Asia. Ophis told me about you." There was no handshake, even if it was more characteristic of her than Ophis to do so. That should've told me something was off. Guess not.

"Thank you," Asia replied, and when I saw some attempt at hiding discomfort I knew she'd sensed something. And _that_ is when I realized the thing about the handshake. "Will that be all?"

"Yes, it will. I'm sure you remember where Issei's room is." Asia nodded. "Wait there until he comes up to get you. And make sure the blinds on the window are pulled down." That's right, the re was a window. I'd seen that first Angel through it. She nodded again and left back up the stairs, leaving Yasaka and I.

"We need to talk. Dining room table." So that's where we started walking.

"What is it?"

"It's Asia. It was a risk bringing here, more so than possibly any other person you could've brought."

"It was her decision. I don't even think I asked her, she just did that on her own when Sam showed up."

"Then you probably shouldn't have let her." We reached the dining room table, pulled up chairs and sat down. "She's valuable to the Church, and I doubt they'll like it if she just wandered off. By letting her you're now endangering both her and everyone in this House."

"I know. But she insisted. I don't think she'd let me stop her." I saw her lay her hands flat on the stone surface of the table. She only moved her index fingers to tap lightly in some rhythm I felt like I should've recognized.

"Look, Issei, I understand that this was something you didn't prepare for. It's weird: Even after everything you can train for and have scenarios for there's always something you miss. But you should've thought about what this does for the Alliance. We're all in danger now, even more than normal. You were attacked by Devils who know who you are and probably more, and that much was probably unavoidable. But you immediately follow up on that by letting a girl raised by the Church follow you here."

"I don't think anyone said saving the Dragon race was going to be easy."

"No one ever said destroying it would be hard, either. Why else is it dwindling?"

And, as you can guess, I didn't know how to respond to that. She needed things in perspective and gave me exactly that. I couldn't tell if she continued to gaze at me for a response, because if so I couldn't meet it.

But then I understood what I _could_ do - Not even doing, really, but just learning.

"Does that mean she'll have to go back?" I saw Yasaka smiling. To this day I'm not sure why, but it was nothing jovial. Defiance? Patronization?

"Not a chance."

 _"I would hope not. Wouldn't you like a chance to destroy some Angels?"_

* * *

I went back up to find Asia. (A lot of back-and-forth in this house.) She was laying on my bed, and it didn't take me long to realize she was sleeping. Should I wake her? Probably not. So I sat down in the chair she'd pulled up and waited.

Now, you could argue that this was a little creepy, and I'd defend myself before realizing every counterargument I made just proved that, and I knew it. But as long as I didn't get myself caught up in gawking at a sleeping teenage girl I think I kept the creepy part to a minimum. I was getting kind of good at passing the time.

And then I remembered that I had a drawing notebook somewhere. Maybe I could turn make a Mona Asia as I waited. That'd have to be a _little_ better, right?

 _"No."_

 _Please, Ddraig, shut up._

I found it sitting on the shelf opposite my bed. I actually had to brush dust off of it. Had it really been that long?

 _"Yes."_

I could see him smiling. Have you ever seen a Dragon smile? I haven't either, but I imagined it looked like a piranha or one of those fish with the lights - what were those called, angler fish? Right now, he was unimportant. I'd stuffed a pencil into the spiral binding and pulled it out. Still sharp.

Now I wanted to focus. Of course, considering the short talk I'd just had that would be difficult. Still, artists channel their thoughts into their art. I was no artist but I could still think. Unfortunately, that brought me back around to: what would I draw?

That answered itself.

No surprise, I was marking down the outline of a Dragon before I knew it. But this one... it was a bit different. Pretty soon I was getting ahead of myself, seeing the picture complete itself. It was horrible. It was ugly. It had an angler fish's mouth and enormous bat wings and an exposed spine that ran off its back into a spiked tail, typical stuff. I was just using a pencil, but already there were dead black eyes with two beads of red irises, and that nasty brown-white of exposed bone. What would a bit of purple lightning in the background do for it?

As I scratched it out, I realized what this was: It was my offspring. And pretty soon I saw that a silver cross jangled around its thick neck. This would be what a newborn Dragon looked like. And suddenly I had to wonder if, should they turn out like this, we would all regret trying to save Dragons at all. Asia would be less enthusiastic when she saw she'd given birth to something like this, wouldn't she? Ophis? To hear Ddraig and herself describe it, Dragons were a bit nobler than this. Most of the time, anyway. Sometimes something went wrong.

 _"I don't recognize that, but perhaps that is because it hasn't existed yet."_

 _No_ , I told myself. That wouldn't be. Dismiss it. But, knowing humans, that just made it harder to ignore. And Yasaka's words were thrown back into it. The Angels were looking for her, and I'd already pissed off a peerage of Devils at the very least. One Angel had already found this place; more would come. Ophis and Shiva were both extremely powerful, but I'd never actually seen either in battle, just heard about it later. Words can be contorted simply by saying them. They couldn't be omnipotent, either. Both had limits. So did I. How else did I get my ass handed to me by two Devils? A little surprise, and...!

I slashed a deep line across the sketch. At first I didn't think I'd meant to. But no Dragons left, no more born. And so I did mean it. The graphite tip of the pencil dug straight down until it snapped.

 _Do you have anything else to say?_

 _"Yes: We will not fail again."_ He was lying.

On the plus side...

I'd made a promise, right? I'm not crapsack enough to forget about that, am I?

Asia's breathing remained perfectly steady throughout. She looked at peace. I doubted she'd feel that way so much when she woke up.

I'd protect her. Regardless of her Sacred Gear, regardless of hideous offspring, regardless of whatever followed her, I would protect her. I had to. Taking it into hopefully less self-centered territory, she deserved that much. Of course, wouldn't that be _more_ selfish to think that way?

I sat there, trying to memorize the walls, until she woke up. At first she was groggy, but with each in a series of blinks she became more conscious.

"Issei?" She looked down at herself. "I'm... sorry, about the bed, I mean." I shrugged.

"You were tired, and the bed was there." I hoped she appreciated the thought process. She seemed to remember that, because she smiled.

"I'm not supposed to be here, am I?" She was still smiling as she said it.

"Maybe, but you're not going anywhere, miss," I replied. Hopefully that helped some. Time to do something stupid. "Do you want to go back?"

"No," she answered with no pause.

"Good."

 _"Good."_

She looked down at the notebook in my lap.

"What is that?" I leaned down in the chair to toss it under my bed, where it disappeared, hopefully so she could never find it.

"Nothing," I replied quickly. "Nothing you need to see, anyway. A nude scrapbook, death threat drafts, a bunch of cryptic messages written in blood - "

"Where did you learn to kid people?"

"Why?" She laughed.

"She plays things up so that you know she doesn't mean them, not to make you think she does. Did you really think that was going to work?"

"Quite perceptive of you. And... no, not really." She sat up and leaned herself forward.

"Then what's in it?" And I had to answer truthfully. I was grinning nervously.

"Dragons. I like to draw Dragons."

"Just Dragons?"

"Among other things."

"Can I see any of them?"

"No." She laughed again. And then, you know the drill, we fell into silence again. How much time had passed today? Seventy-two hours would be my guess, or I'm worse at passing a little yome than I thought. I suddenly found myself poking my head out of the blinded window just to see if the sun had even set; it had. I could see the moon. A couple airborne animals I couldn't quite recognize cast their shapes on it.

"What is it?" Asia asked me.

"Just the moon." Then I added: "I think we should head downstairs."

"Why?"

"Because I can't remember how long ago it was we were at that diner."

So we headed downstairs together. I don't think either of us really were hungry, strange as that may sound to you.

* * *

It didn't take us long to realize that. The kitchen was empty at the moment.

"What do you think you want? Sit down and I can get it for you."

"Why?"

"Because you're the guest here. And maybe I just want to." She bit.

"Okay." She found the table and sat down - exactly where I had sat as Yasaka explained the dangers of bringing her here. Surprisingly, I wasn't too uncomfortable thinking about it. Of course, people don't get visibly uncomfortable purely because of a memory, right? Just ask any soldier, or survivor of other horrific events, they'll happily tell you that.

"So, what do you want? We carry almost everything here."

"I don't think I'm hungry."

"Me neither." I sat down, exactly where Yasaka had. "So why did we even come down here?"

"I don't know."

"I guess we could just..."

"Just what?"

"Talk?"

"Alright," she told me, and laid her hands crossed on the table. "What do you want to talk about?"

"No clue." Then I added: "Is there anything you wanted to talk about?"

And then Ophis, being quite considerately inconsiderate, made her presence known. The kitchen _was_ empty - not anymore!

"No, actually, there isn't." She stood at the head of the table, between both of us. "You have school tomorrow - technically today. Don't wanna miss that, do you?" Her face was completely expressionless, as it often was, but I took notice now.

"I'm going to school tomorrow?" She nodded. "In the middle of all of this?" Another. I decided it'd be better not to ask more. Doubtless, Asia decided the same thing.

"Then get up there and get to bed. Showering wouldn't be a bad idea, either. You know how teenagers stink." Obediently, I got up, a little thankful and a little pissed. Asia and Ophis both gazed at me, and there was a moment where I knew... something. Later I think it was that I recognized a love for both of them, shapeless and somewhat unknowable.

 _"I do not understand, either, but this is not up to us. Disobedience may come later - not now."_ That, I could agree with. I headed up the stairs, showered, and disappeared from the world...

* * *

 _...Into another. Alone. Ddraig is gone._

 _First step is always to find out where you are. I do so: somewhere dark, cramped, still to the point of stale. And there!: a slit of light. And another. A third._

 _Existence itself seems to spill open, and I tumble forward, unfolding as I do. The floor forgives nothing, hard and cold and probably filthy. The lights are harsh, and everything under them is white, kind of cloudy._

 _The bell rings, I make the connection, and move on. Soon people come from everywhere, and I realize that none of them are normal. Feet slap against the floor, chatter rises and falls in waves, none of it intelligible. As they pass, I feel a couple slap me on the back, and several more pat me on the butt. I think little of either gesture, simply stand there and wait for them to pass. I turn so that I face the endless droves, and from each forehead a bright lure dangles like a lightbulb on a fishing rod; this is where the light comes from._

 _I see several students laughing, and two-foot tongues swirl around needle-like teeth. Little candle flames dance on the tip. Then I see their eyes! They're pure white, glazed over as if burned into blindness. Then I see the uniforms - first those nearest to me, then on everyone else: every student there wears a tight, distorted Kuoh uniform that leaves little to be imagined. On the guys it's awkward, even funny; on the girls, even in their hideousness, the effect is quite seductive, even arousing. I don't like it, shapely and contorted as they may be. And as they pass from right to left in front of me, I see the open backs of the uniform shirt:_

 _Jutting out from their backs are exposed spines, exposed muscle and nerve twitching and sparking freely, bunching and loosening as the students somehow found the space and balance to lunge dramatically when they walked. There was no end to them, simply more and more moving from somewhere unknown to an even more obscure end._

 _A prickly hand touches my shoulder and I jump._

 _"What's wrong, Issei?" Along my own exposed spine, I feel a jolt riding up and down (I think I can even **see** a bolt of shrieking plasma!). That... that voice!_

 _"You seem tense," says Kunou, more mature, sultry and desirable than I remember, but the same person. I wonder how I can hear her over the crowds, but know somewhere I shouldn't be surprised. "I didn't mean to startle you." But there's something in her eyes that tells me she did want to startle me, and more._

 _"It's... good... to see you," I manage to spit out. Then, more calmly: "You're dead." My voice sounds buzzy, like there's a loudspeaker bouncing my words around in my mouth; my teeth feel like steel, ringing madly in my mouth. They probably are. I fold my tongue back into my mouth to muffle them._

 _Kunou, immune to the passing of the crowd around her, smiles beautifully, showing the same teeth and tongue as the others, but her own lure has been cut from her forehead, leaving a nub. I look down at the contours of her chest, struggling to breathe through the thin fabric. Is that...?_

 _"Of course I am! I'm in your head, silly!" She drops a double-jointed finger to my chest, which (somehow) has gone bare. "Silly, silly boy..." she mutters lowly, bending it back and forth while holding it between my ribs. "Enough force and I can break these," she comments. I would know._

 _"Like this."_

 _She curls her finger backwards against the back of her hand, then uncurls it with the force necessary to turn my entire ribcage to glass shards. I know this, but... it's not like before. They slice against my lungs, my heart, my spleen, liver, and yellow liquid starts sloshing inside of me. I don't question any of this, simply shudder once in exquisite pain, stinging to the point of ecstasy - nothing like the real thing._

 _I slump back against the locker I emerged from, clutching my stomach; slowly I slide to the floor, and tip to one side. My cheek comes to rest in a pile of crumbs and dirt. The crowd stops their movements, and my eyes turn up to see Kunou smirking. Her tongue licks her lips excitedly._

 _"Silly, silly boy!" The students turn themselves and form into a semicircle around Kunou and I. And they start clapping and cheering wildly, whooping, flicking their tongues, feeling up and down the fronts of their shirts. I can see their faces more clearly now: All girls. This does not surprise me at all._

 _"Silly boy!" They repeat, continuing to clap excitedly. I have no choice but to stare up at Kunou. How had she died? Her hands travel up and down her shirt, inspiring little crackling sparks. With each outburst of static, a small gash slices her shirt and the chest underneath. Slimy blood oozes thinly from each new cut. Her eyes - green, unlike the rest - never move away from me, not once. She's still grinning._

 _I start to writhe as my stomach bursts, and the yellow ichor spills forth onto the floor - at least I was right about the color! I look down long enough to miss Kunou's face changing. I look up again, and try to get my hands under me, to get up, to resist at all! I can feel my stomach emptying out, like dumping a trash bag. By the time my eyes reach Kunou's face again it's no longer her._

 ** _"Promise me!"_**

 _I scream madly, flinging spit from my tongue, guts pouring from a burst-open stomach, and suddenly find the strength to stand. Something... snaps back into place. I clench my left fist, and the applause crescendoes as I raise it above my head. I'm still screaming, but now my voice has the strength of another. Their dangling lures suddenly glow green, starting with the rows closest to me and spreading out to the other side of the hallway somewhere in the distance. Everything goes that white-green, and once it is all-encompassing the applause dies within an instant._

 ** _"Behold! I am the King of all Dragons!"_**

 _"We know," Kunou-with-Irina's-face tells me, before dropping into a kneel. Blood pours from her shirt and drips to the floor, and I see her exposed spine go inactive. The others behind her do the same. The light intensifies, and I continue to hold my hand up. Am I starting to lift off the ground? Have I stopped screaming? No, I'm just getting louder._

 _"There he goes, boys and girls: our human Father and Dragonic Father finally ascended! This is a day of celebration! Rejoice!" Kunou takes her own face again before my eyes, and doubles over in pain, coating the floor in red blood turning charred black. Her exposed spine sends along one more white-hot jitter and she is still. She curls up exactly the way she had the first time - exactly as I had writhed moments before. Behind her, the rest remain kneeling, their spines starting to build with a singular white energy in the green light. This is exactly what they want. I might even go along with it..._

 _...Were it real, that is. I understand now: it's_ _just a dream. But why not embrace it?_

 _I see why their spines are glowing: with one swift motion, and a crack of overpowering white, each kneeling concubine sprouts wings. Like snowflakes, each one appears different in shape and size, all turned up as if to push down and launch upward. I like that. Now they are all truly beautiful. After a moment, I hear the bang of thunder. I hear this only because my screaming has finally stopped; I can still feel golden viscera pouring endlessly, eroding away at whatever's left of my abdomen._

 _I'm now a good ten, twelve feet above them, hanging by my upheld arms, something blowing in my hair and beginning to howl. A storm in the school halls!_

 _And I see their wings again - all of them. The lightning twists into the shape of... bat's wings? Feathers? They're impossible to tell from one another, but both infuriate me! I will not have killers for concubines! I am infinity! I make my own rules!_

 _I lower my arm and make an accusing arc across the entire crowd of hideous Dragons. Their heads do not move, but their electric wings shudder, and sparks pass along their spines. I move so that I levitate over them, dripping golden slime from my entire torso now. As it touches them it turns to burning steam, scalding them so that they moan in pleasure... or is that pain? It melts their wings away, seeps between their vertebrae, filling the little spaces, melting their clothes away, their flesh. Flesh severs from bone in little sinewy strings, snapping reluctantly and shriveling to nothing._

 _"Silly boy," I hear one mutter. I look down directly at her, and she looks up. She catches my stomach drippings like snowflakes on her tongue, smiling. Her scalp is bleeding into her colorless hair, turning it blood red, clotting, scabbing, turning to black. Her clothes burn away to reveal an voluptuous athlete's body, but the skin and flesh remain untouched. She holds a hand to her chest, and it drifts downward..._

 _"You're not many things, but you're a liar, silly boy!" Everywhere her hand touches, the flesh comes away misshapen, bloody, discolored, repulsive. She holds up her hand for me to see, and in it is something like a molted shell, reptilian, authentic._

 _Another girl next to her breaks her kneel and stands up. She's an exact copy of Irina at first glance, but as I gaze down at her I see the face changing, subtle at first. Then I blink. Her very presence changes whenever I look at her._

 _"She's not your friend, Issei." The blood-headed monster holds out her left hand to the other. "She's a victim, taking whatever face you give her. See?" I do. Her teeth grow and shorten, her tongue changing color, skin tightening and loosening against her bones, forehead-lure blinking erratically. "Do any of these others matter?" Prompted, I look around. The other girls - my family - have melted away into piles of my fluid and cracked bone. All gone!_

 _"I do," I respond in my own voice. On this shapeshifter, Irina's face looks up at me._

 _"You promised. I want to go with you."_

 _The monster growls, tearing newfound claws into her hair, peeling away her scalp, scratching the surface of her skull. But where claws draw straight lines, runes are carved..._

 _No... not runes. At first they look incredibly complex, but the elaborate shapes weather away to leave the straight lines. She crosses over the lines from the back to the front with a new set of etchings from the top of her head to where her ears once were. It takes a moment, but the gold flowing from my chest cavity fills into the lines, molded and cast by it into..._

 _Crosses! The Devil carved crosses into her own skull!_

 _Laughing like the wicked witch she was, she burns away to the floor._

 _"I'm melting! MELTING! OH, WHAT A WORLD, WHAT A WORLD!" At this, I chuckle just a little._

 _My feet touch the ground. I stare at the floor, toe-deep in my own golden fluid, green light dying out, leaving only the glow from our own two foreheads: a pure white._

 _"Seventy-eight-times-seven," she mutters. I don't hear it, or don't understand it. She takes one step forward, two, three. I take just as many back. Four, five, I reciprocate. Six, seven. I am backed up against a locker, which slams shut as I have nothing left to walk back farther into. My feet, which I now realize are quite bare, are rocking. I can see her eyes: pure green. Her face finally settles on something kind, aged in youth, very beautiful._

 _She takes a half step forward, hands digging into my shoulders, and kisses me. At first it's a pleasant enough, our lips locking and long tongues swirling. I hear gushing coming from around my feet, all the way up to between my legs. My eyes want to shut but I or something else will not let them. Our heads rotate to accommodate the kiss, and I look over the shapeshifter's shoulders behind us. She continues to lean in, shoving me harder against the locker. All of a sudden I want to escape, just to break free, something, anything. Anything!_

 _Then the kiss becomes painful. Her tongue slides somewhere it is not supposed to: down my throat. It turns practically to liquid as it does, and my gag reflex does not exist here. I want to scream, but my voice is gone too, either spent by now or completely erased. She clamps down on my own tongue and it comes away clean. Her hands clamp deeply, and my arms feel as if they are going hollow. I feel something click against something else within each arm: nothing good. I try clenching my hand, to summon the Dragon supposedly cohabitating with me, but my joints have all stiffened until they are no longer joints at all._

 _I hear this other gasping erotically, and I see that now her hair is jet-black and her ears have sharpened to points. I raise a leg to kick her away - or try to - but she has planted herself firmly. She decides upon t_ _he rules._

 _"You... know what..." she gasps, her tongue forming the words in my throat but ringing in my ears. Where it the sound actually coming from? "I'll..." Another gasp. "...Let you go." She breaks her head away, retracting her tongue from somewhere in... my stomach? She takes two steps back, releasing her hands, and throwing her head back with some twisted ecstasy. She laughs, weakly, mockingly, timidly. Then she lowers her head to make eye contact with me again. Then her eyes drift lower._

 _At first I am somewhat embarrassed, but then I realize why. She raises one leg and slaps her bare foot against the ground. A thick golden fluid splashes lethargically up to her bare chest. She does the same thing with her other foot, repeating over and over again. Her laughter grows louder as I stand, paralyzed for all intents and purposes._

 _She starts walking towards me again, one palm raised to me. It is now that I get the hint. I look down:_

 _Most of my torso has been melted away, as have my legs and feet. All that remains is the whitish, reflective flesh caving inward, with little dots of red blood here and there. I look like a cartoon where a monster takes a massive bite out of a two-dimensional character. With muscle, blood vessels and tendon exposed, I see strings pulling all the way up my elbow to pull my fingers into movement. I grip at the slick edges of my abdomen. The skin, muscle and fat of my fingertips sizzle away, but still I peel away the last remains of my melted torso. More gut-juices spill to the floor, exactly as this other wants._

 _As my physical body peels away beneath me I speak flatly and clearly to this face-changing horror:_

 _"I love you." There's pain on her face, but I can't tell if it's true or just a fantasy._

 _"I love you, too." These words might be sarcastic, or they could be authentic; either way, I have given her what she wants._

 _(Or is this just what **I** want?)_

 _My eyes drift up to the angler fish's lure mounted above my eyes. It flickers, and goes dark again. This other's remains steady, if not dimmed a little. I close my eyes._

 _"I love you - I promise," I elaborate. Even if I have nowhere to fall, I can feel myself tipping. I have said it now, and although I have not shown it yet, I know something will come later to demand that I must._

 _But, of course, how many promises can one person keep?_

 _My eyes are wrenched open again by something invisible: a white-haired monkey on my head. It hangs itself from my lure and dangles before my eyes. I want to leave, but this holds me here._

 _The shifter, tears in her eyes, holds up her other hand. I feel the lure threaten to rip from my head as the monkey does something that requires a lot of its weight. She catches something... dark silver, leaving a trail of red vapor. What air is left seems to start whining, like a tremolo note. She catches it, and starts sobbing._

 _I blink. Twice. A third time. With each blink, a new layer of blue tears stain my entire vision. The monkey holds me by the hair to the wall, little fingers threatening to rip it out in big clumps._

 _The shifter's hand trembles, practically turning the red-trailing muzzle in a perfect continuous arc. The monkey continues to hold me in place, and eventually her hand steadies out._

 _"Be the hero," the monkey mutters in a somber girl's voice. "See you tomorrow." And then it - she - climbs on each arm to snap it off. Each comes cleanly, with as little effort as biting a crouton. (It made the same sound!)_

 _The first bullet is gold, and I can follow it and its red smoke trail as it brushes the remains of my entire torso and shatters my spine into two primary pieces: top and bottom. The monkey holds me as my decayed lower half crumples to the floor. Her hand can't stop shaking! A little angrily, she grips it with her other arm, just trying to steady it. I do what I can to nod._

 _I see now that her face has changed again. She's much older now, filling out and hair lengthening, becoming a pasta-yellow color. She is still completely naked. I worry about why I find her attractive, shrug both the fear and its source off. Unimportant - I must complete this._

 _The second bullet is silver - this one I fear. The monkey has to grip me even tighter as I hear the bang and see the bullet crawling towards me. It's halfway there, three-quarters, then... It disintegrates before my eyes, and the red trail stops, confirming this._

 _She speaks again, something inaudible, and after a moment, I feel my skull cave. I swear, I can even see it!: my entire head scrunching, like when you poke a water balloon until it pops. Thinking about this allows me to laugh, even as my mouth folds into the second-largest chunk of my skull._

 _What's left of me falls back into the locker. It wasn't open before._

* * *

My eyes wrestled themselves open at perhaps an hour before dawn, and my left leg kicked out in some reflex. I expected my first few breaths to be painful, and so breathed slowly and deeply. They became shallower as my awareness returned to me.

I got myself up and almost kicked Asia in the throat as I stood up - she slept on a blanket of the floor, in a deeper trance than I think I've ever seen anyone sleep before. I was about to step to the door and the bathroom beyond when something about her caught my eye:

Her breathing suddenly was reduced to a whimper, and she curled into a ball under her top blanket, her hands tugging furiously at her chest. I saw her Sacred Gear starting to glow as her hands clenched and unclenched with what I think of what I think was fear. She continued to ball up, head retreating between her arms. She was gathering a green aura around herself, just trying to withstand whatever it was she was dreaming of.

Seeing her, I seemed to forget everything. I wanted so badly just to curl up next to her, or shake her awake, just to help her in some way, perhaps as she'd helped me. And for a moment I thought that this was exactly what I was supposed to feel if I was to mate with her. I'd seed them, protect them, all that. That included clinging to her when she had some terrible dream, right?

That inspired another thought: had I ever done that for Ophis. I hadn't, had I? Once, she'd done something like that for me, even if it was just to soften the blow of a big plot twist after a big death. But never again, and I'd never done that for her. Had I even done that for Irina? Maybe, I couldn't remember. I'm pretty sure I'd never done that for Yasaka or Shiva. Motohama and Matsuda weren't exactly the kind of people to support in that way; we had this kind of respectful distance, paradoxical as that may sound. But...

Where is the line drawn between friendship and... the other thing? I couldn't be sure. Or was it more like a gradual fade from one to the other? Soulmates may be total bullshit, but if not, would a soulmate _have_ to be a lover? Or could it be a simple friend?

An awful lot that I could never be sure about. What I did know, however, was that Asia wasn't going anywhere for now, and I had to pee.

I remembered now: I'd had a dream last night. A little less bizarre than usual, just a bit more lucid. There'd been Dragons in schoolgirl's outfits, a face-changer, a less literal interpretation of Rias Gremory, and some insane stuff. Symbolic, maybe? I'd forgotten a lot of it, and even then, when have you actually dreamed in metaphors? A lot of the time it's just random connections to intangible to experience, much less comprehend.

"Angels don't take kindly to theft," I muttered. Had someone said that to me, as their parting words, maybe a warning? Whoever had said it, they weren't wrong. I'd need to remember that.

With that, I stepped out into the hallway. I had school. If it couldn't be called such already, it was going to be Hell today.

* * *

...

* * *

 ** _Hey there... again!_**

 _ **It's been an interesting - and kinda busy - couple of weeks, but all worth it. A bit of reflection never hurt anyone, and this period certainly wasn't painful. To paraphrase my sophomore year history teacher: "You c** **an learn a lot about yourself when you have no distractions." And he directed us to multiple articles about the psychological/introspective effects of boredom to prove his point. One of the things I realized about myself is that I REALLY like dream sequences, especially the really bizarre ones, like anything David Lynch does.**_

 ** _As always, I appreciate positive and negative feedback, but it's much preferred if your criticism is clearly articulated and not just "wtf this sucks" - because that's vague and therefore useless._**

 ** _But let me conclude with this, and I'll shut up:_**

 ** _Have an impressive day._ :-{ )**


	11. Act II: Zonks, Spies and Desires

_**August 31st, 2019**_

 _ **"Welp, here I am, many work hours, TV binges and bizarre spam messages later, with the audacity to post again. I'll move the ramble to the front today because there's important news regarding this chapter, as well as the usual commentary, apologies, thanks and whatnot.**_

 _ **First and foremost: this next chapter was always an important part of the story, but as I wrote it I realized it was such a sidestep as to be almost a one-off. If you want to focus on the main plot only, then skip away, and I'll fill in the important stuff:**_

 _ **\- Issei realizes that, as the designated male Dragon, he has to mate with Ophis as well.**_

 _ **\- He meets an Angel in disguise, learns that the Church knows about he and Asia, kills her and runs home to prepare for the inevitable invasion.**_

 _ **\- That invasion comes before he can even get into the house, and the chapter ends with him being ordered to run inside for his own safety.**_

 _ **\- Thematic stuff. Minor torture and murder, nothing I'm sure you haven't seen before.**_

 _ **I can safely say that this marks roughly the halfway point, for any carefully measuring their own dwindling patience. It occurred to me that this story isn't so much a singular plot as it is multiple subplots bleeding together almost geometrically, like layers of rings forming a circle.**_

 _ **Thank y'all who're still reading. It means a lot, and I'm happy to provide some enjoyment and/or thought to any that'll listen. Conversely, I appreciate those of you who observed critically and pointed out some fatal flaws, because you're the ones I'm learning the most from. However, this doesn't apply to everyone; criticism that doesn't explain itself or simply makes no sense whatsoever is completely useless from a constructive standpoint. Criticism in general sometimes gets tricky because a story's weaknesses could be the direct results of its strengths and intents - that's basically compensation, or some loss for every gain and vice versa.**_

 ** _Something approaching a schedule should resume quickly, now that school and routines all of a sudden exist again. It'll have taken at least two years to finish this whopper of a semi-Lynchian anime fanfiction, and I can promise - to any they're interested, at least - that there'll be more. Just look at my profile page to see what some of it will look like. (Robots. Lots of robots!)_**

 _ **I'd like to hear more from all of you: good, bad, ugly, and everything in between. We're going into uncharted territory here, almost together, and a steering wheel's only as good as the driver.**_

 _ **Completely unrelated: music. I'd like to hear what this story has you thinking of, the kinds of images and sounds that come to mind. I have my own conflicting ideas and opinions, but there's a real curiosity behind this question.**_

 _ **All in all, heaps of praise all 'round.**_

 _ **End ramble. Go do whatever it is you do, dear readers."**_

 _ **\- The Toa of Science Fiction**_ **:-{ )**

* * *

...

* * *

I came back and Asia was already gone, taking her blanket with her and leaving no trace. For the briefest of moments there was a desire to turn the house over until I found her; I wouldn't. I dressed, looking outside and seeing that a large fog was gathering. That'd be fun, I imagined. I collided into a group of Youkai stepping through my door, and wasn't surprised to see that they were carrying small melee weapons from their belts - partially my doing. There were at least four of them, and after an awkward exchange of the usual apologies we both continued on our ways. I had to laugh as I walked away: one of them was wearing a grey hoodie with neon-purple drawstrings and... a top hat!

Ophis was leaning idly against the banister, wearing a denim jacket and medium-length skirt, arms crossed and one leg propped up like a lovable greaser from some old movie. I don't think Motohama or Matsuda had ever seen her, but I was suddenly reminded that if they did they'd have no problem throwing every crude and/or sycophantic gesture they could at her. Or would they surprise me? I didn't think so, and sometimes I hated them, such as right now.

"You ready?"

"Not quite yet. Why?" She started walking alongside as soon as I got within four feet of her.

"Because you're my child."

"That's... would that be disturbing?"

( _"No."_ )

"Freud wouldn't think so."

"Freud was the crazy one who said we want to get frisky with our parents, right?" She chuckled.

"It's only crazy if everyone's more insane than you are."

"That makes no sense."

"E-e-exactly!"

We reached the kitchen - I needed to figure out what to make, and then eat. After a little consideration, I settled on another sandwich. One with meat, or another peanut butter-jelly? I decided this was no time for adventure, and chose the latter.

 _"Good choice,"_ Ddraig commented. _"Quickly, please."_

I got the sandwich together and embarked silently for the door. I stooped to pick up my backpack when I saw that it was no longer there. I shrugged. It'd happened before.

And then I felt it shoved into my arm.

"Let's go."

Beat.

"What?" I slung one strap around one arm, then moved my sandwich to the other hand to repeat with my other arm.

"Oh, I'm escorting you to school. 'Protecting our stud' and all that."

"Please, never refer to me as a stud again. Also, why even bother with school if it's that dangerous?"

"'Sick, dying, and/or another such important engagement'. You know how it is." She opened the door.

"That works. Thanks," I replied halfheartedly as I walked through, and she followed.

I didn't look at her at all as we crossed the clearing to reach the forest. Something about the fog and the trees and the whole view seemed to pop out, almost 3.5-dimensional. I nibbled my sandwich in silence, a little lost. I looked back once, and realized that the house was marked almost entirely by what looked like two yellow eyes: lanterns, maybe? The sun hadn't quite come out yet, and there was something dynamic about the whole setting that only the most pretentious art snobs pick up on.

"Like a shot from a Tarkovsky movie, maybe. All we're missing is the house being on fire," Ophis commented, reading my mind. "You remember those, right?"

"Kind of." And we were on the path, and the trees swallowed us. A couple months ago, Ophis had gotten her hands on VHS copies of a couple of his movies (untranslated), and we sat down and watched them. Having what supernatural powers we did, we learned the necessary Russian as we watched. I was actually a bit let down, even impatient, and we were providing our own commentary in no time, skipping back and forth between the two languages and laughing deliriously.

We were silent for another reasonably short while.

"How are you?"

"What?"

"How are you? With all of this?" I looked at her now. Did I love her? Definitely, but questions often need to be elaborated on, and answers stopped there. I guess I could leave it at that: I loved Ophis, and that would be answer enough for the time being. My eyes drifted all around the patch of forest, seeing something morose and brooding in it. Or was that just how it could be related to? Art is subjective after all, right?

I shrugged.

"I don't know." That was a lie, mostly. I had some ideas, but everything sort of drains away when you need it. Then, I added: "This was how it was going to be, wasn't it? Certainly not easy?"

"Not even close to easy. Saving a species never is, especially not Dragons." And suddenly, a thought came to mind, bringing together several pieces before throwing them into a pile on the floor and calling it a jigsaw. _What the hell!?_

"Does that... Does that mean...?" I still wonder how I couldn't quite have seen it before.

"Yup." Did she know what I meant? What I _really_ meant?

Probably.

My stomach dropped to my knees thinking about it. I loved her, didn't I? What could possibly be so unsettling about that? Why, everything, of course, _especially_ since I could say I loved her.

"So... what do you think... about all of this?"

"Exactly what you think."

"Meaning?"

"I guess I don't know, either."

The rest of it was silent until we reached the school. At first I couldn't find our dynamic duo, and no heads turned when a reasonably attractive girl showed up walking with me. Not one.

"This is it?"

"Pretty much."

"It's... dinky." I had no words for that one. We were now standing side-by-side, directly facing the building. Suddenly there was an urge to grab Ophis' hand and squeeze it, so I did. She squeezed back. "Are you okay from here?"

"I'd think so."

"Great." And then she was onto me in one of her signature hugs. I realized now that I loved those hugs, just as I loved her... in whatever way that would be. Still, no one was looking. All of them were busy chatting or seemingly looking over my shoulder.

We broke the hug.

"I hope you're right. We're counting on you." She started back down the street, turning around once to wave - and blow a kiss. At first confused, I waved back. It was as soon as she disappeared around a corner that I realized I was probably meant to give some gesture of catching it. Oh well. Can't get everything right, right? Lethargically, I raised my fingertips to my mouth and let loose a small smooch of my own.

"What the _hell_ are you doing!?" That was Matsuda, with a big potentially-friendly bluster in his rhythm and tone. I'd like to think I was quick to respond. I didn't have anything ready and just made a mom joke.

"Your mom dropped me off today. I was saying my goodbyes as she drove away." For a moment he had some look on his face I couldn't quite recognize. It was gone as quickly as it came. Had I touched a nerve? Maybe. Best not to bring it up again.

"How's life?" I continued.

"Oh, fine," he responded.

"Where's Motohama?"

"You don't know?"

'I was gone yesterday, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. What for?"

"Oh, just attacked and beaten by a couple of naked chicks, helped out by a Catholic girl, had lunch with her and brought her back to my house, where then she slept with me." I finished with a small chuckle. Matsuda joined in, thinking to acknowledge that he'd just been lied to.

"Uh-huh."

"So what happened to Motohama?"

"Oh, he got desperate and did a bit of sneaking around! Yeah, they found him last afternoon in a janitor's closet, crying and cradling his balls. Had a couple other bad injuries too. Fuckin' sucks, being an idiot and getting punished for it!" I nodded in agreement. Was that a lie as well? Guess I'd wait until I saw Motohama again.

"Also, I've heard we have a new student - a Junior. Kinda skinny, but she had zonks about _this big_!" He held his hands a good distance apart to illustrate, and his eyes widened. I'd never heard him use 'zonks' before.

"You've seen her already?" He shook his head.

"But I've heard plenty of others talking this morning. Trust me, sometimes I think we're the friggin' innocent children of this grand ol' circlejerk!"

"Does this 'zonker' have a name?"

"Yeah! Yuuma, I think. Amana, Amano or something."

"Y'know..." I looked around a bit at the students that were now starting to be let inside the building. I returned to face him, grinning, and then back down at my feet as I shuffled in the grass.

"Yes?"

"Y'know, hold off on some of your cruder comments and I wonder if you wouldn't have a shot!" He took a moment to take that in, and I'm pretty sure he took that slightly more seriously than I'd meant it.

"Yeah, yeah. Get in the goddamn building." Again, potentially-friendly.

I already missed Ophis. (Especially after learning what I had.)

 _"I already knew. You're not the only one."_

* * *

...

* * *

Something I should clear up right now: Kuoh Academy doesn't have conventional lockers, like most schools. Given the nature of such dangerous things that happened in schools nowadays, it may seem a bit counterintuitive to do anything of the sort, but there was some other thought process in play. Experienced students would understand the importance of a good backpack, while new students aren't really given any sort of warning about this. This gives us something to complain about the adults and all the extra steps they add or remove from things, if you want to see it that way. Now, this doesn't have much to do with anything, except maybe to clear up a few rough spots.

I was trying to wade through the usual crowd in the hallways when I collided with someone new... again.

I fell forward this time, and needed a moment to register the collision and the ensuing girl screaming - a sound straight out of one of Motohama's pirated videos. My fall was completely cushioned as I went down, and the books had come from... somewhere, obviously.

There was another squeal and my head found a resting place. Considering the turn of events you'll see in quite a bit of modern fiction, you can guess _exactly_ where I landed. Can't say I liked or disliked it, but I don't even think I was aroused by it.

I used my hands to steady myself as I looked up, and again for the briefest moment there was no way to stop any of it. I saw now the face of an Angel, jet-black hair sprawled and scattered this way and that, and then I looked down...

I rolled myself off with as panicked a speed as speed can panic, but this time words came before gibberish.

"I'm so sorry I didn't mean to it's just - !"

"Shhh, it's fine," she reassured me, getting to her feet. One hand was fiddling loosely with the buttons on her uniform shirt, while the other held a finger to her lips. She smiled. Coldly - or was that warmly? "I... dropped some books." Then she giggled with a bit of (false?) embarrassment. Around us, other students were still going this way and that, completely ignorant to the two of us, or simply experienced enough to stay far away.

"Oh, uhm... no problem." Her books were scattered from one side of the hallway to the other. I stooped and tried to avoid being run over the whole time, and took a look at their covers:

A college-level biology textbook, ancient cultures book on the same level, a trigonometry book... in German. The fourth book? A German/English textbook, but first-year. There was something else too, I noticed: a Bible.

I handed them off one to her, where she then nestled them up against her chest. I caught myself looking up again, and... Yup, that's exactly what she intended. She chuckled again. I had to look away. I found myself staring at her shoes and slightly elevated socks - Motohama would've liked that bit just as much as the chest if not more, but I'm _different_ , y'see. Once again you could tell that this was all intentional.

"Quite the variety in your learning material," I commented, trying to see what she'd say. _"Spreken ze Deutsch?"_

" _Oh, ja!_ " Transition fully into German. "I spent a few of my early years in Europe and grew up on a couple different languages."

"Then why the textbook?"

"You can never be too cautious. I'm quite forgetful!" We shared a small laugh, and her books tottered for a moment. ("Ohp!", we seemed to exclaim in unison.) Transition back to English. "I'm Yuuma Amano." Once she was certain her books were safe, she extended a hand. Keep in mind that everyone was still making their ways to everywhere, but we might as well have etched out a spot on the floor. I took the hand, shook it, and dropped it almost immediately.

"And I'm Issei Hyoudou. Very good to meet you, Yuuma Amano." And that was true, in a way; it was very good that I'd met her.

"I'm glad to hear it. Where exactly did you learn German?"

"Something similar to you: I grew up surrounded by people from all over the world." And that was true.

"Then this is quite the coincidence, isn't it? How often do people like us meet in a small town like this?"

"You'd be surprised. I'm hoping to talk some more in the future." Another giggle. She raised the intonation of her voice just a touch.

 _"Ebenfalls_!"

"Listen, I gotta go, but would you meet up after school?"

"Oh, I'd love to!"

"Me too. See ya!"

And then we started walking to our different classes.

 _"Is she - "_

She was. Definitely not just an attractive junior. Like I said before, good thing I found her.

* * *

...

* * *

I found Yuuma waiting on the sidewalk by the curb. She was still carrying her stack of books. (Deliberately?)

In German: "Need a hand with those?"

Response, also in German: "Oh, yes, please!" She leaned up just a bit so I could take the three off the top: The Bible, and the mythology and German textbooks.

"Where to?"

"I was thinking we could walk around town for a while. Do you have any objection to that?"

"I'll have to call someone."

"But do you, though?" I had to think on that one for a moment, then shrugged.

"Guess not. Let's go."

And go we did. Kuoh isn't the most interesting place in the world if you just look at the place. And it seems we both like walking, because that's what we did - a lot of it, too. Two books in her arms and three in mine, there was a decent tension as neither could figure out who was to start conversation. Whipping out every tool assembled over many a discussion with Ophis, Yasaka, Shiva and others, I initiated. She wanted it that way.

First we headed for the place where Yuuma's parents apparently worked: a bookstore, located quite conveniently next to a certain diner and sidewalk where a biker had been healed and two teenagers exchanged secrets of the universe. The sign on the window right of the front door read, in English:

"Sacred Knowledge (Bestsellers and Obscure Classics, HALF OFF!)"

The shop wasn't the best-lit, but in a bookstore I'd imagine something like that to be intentional. Dark wood shelves were arranged in neat columns parallel to the walls. Everything was half-stuffed and organized by price with big peeling stickers. It looked cozy, sounded empty and felt a little sterile. It also seemed a touch too big - ceiling slightly too high, walls slightly too wide and long, carpeted floor too monotonous. I didn't recognize the man behind the counter at the back of the store until he spoke.

"Afternoon, Father!" Yuuma had begun as she opened the metal-and-glass door, the first syllable harmonizing with the clink of that bell that smaller stores have. Following her lead, I set her books down by the door in a stack, creepily familiar to my own habit but impossible for the two to be related; I mean, if that were the case, I'd be well and truly screwed! She began, as you'd expect, in Gernan.

"Ah, Yuuma!" A big brown-haired man in a brown tweed jacket greeted us. "And who is this fine young man?" He continued in German. It might've just been hearing his voice, but he even started to _look_ more distinctly European as he talked. This was the voice I'd heard in the church with Asia.

"Issei Hyoudou, _signore_ ," I replied, and on impulse added a little stiff bow at the end. Both started chuckling a little. It sounded forced. On cue at the term, he switched to Italian.

"Yuuma brought me here so we could drop her books off, perhaps spend a touch more time together." He nodded and smiled formally. Then he opened one of those little swinging doors and let himself through, better revealing his khakis and tweed jacket, including a sweater underneath that even I found unsettlingly tacky. This man looked a bit like a lumbering brute who'd learned some grace, even tact, like he could chuckle under his breath as he crushed your windpipe with his weak hand and sipped tea with his dominant.

"I'm Yuuma's father. It's very nice to meet you, Issei." He held out his right hand. With as little apprehension as I couldn't avoid letting slip, I shook his hand. It wasn't hard to see he could've torn my hand off, and not just for physical strength.

 _("This is dangerous.")_

 _(I know.)_

"It's nice to meet you, too, sir." I replied stiffly. I shouldn't have even shaken his hand, but... sometimes you can't avoid these kinds of things. You gotta meet her dad at least, y'know? 'And that's the bare minimum,' Shiva would add - or was it Ophis, possibly even Matsuda in a good mood?

The man looked over to Yuuma, then continued in Italian.

"Did you bring him here to scam him into buying some books?"

"Maybe, but I was also thinking we could also spend some time together. I like him!"

"You're sure you can tell?" She nodded.

"I can. I'd like your permission to spend the rest of the day with him."

"I see." He smiled again with some illusion of warmth, then nodded and took his place back behind the counter. "Now I know what the two of you will be doing." The register of his voice dropped just a bit.

 _(Are there any dead languages you know?)_

 _("From which era do you want one - A.D or B.C?")_

 _(Anything should work. Any languages humans have no idea how to speak?)_

 _("I've chosen a personal favorite.")_

 _(Then let's make gibberish.)_ I finalized to Ddraig.

"Are you with us, Issei?" Yuuma asked me in English. I nodded.

"Let's go," I said, but my lips and tongue were twisted into some awkward, almost painful shape, and syllables I'd never heard before escaped my mouth.

"Ah, Yuuma! You've chosen a very gifted multilingual! Bring him back again sometime soon!" I turned around to give him a thumbs-up and wave as Yuuma dragged me out the door.

The door shut behind us and I exhaled at some incredible volume. Yuuma turned to face me again, dark hair swinging and oversized 'zonks' bouncing just a little. She'd molded her face into a hypnotic lure, eyes wide and mouth mechanically set to convey serenity. I've said before that it wasn't quite arousing, but for a moment the hair and the zonks and the face lent themselves to a very specific image. I didn't have to _completely_ fake a moment of bewilderment; I still doubt I could ever actually fake any emotion like that.

 _(What language was that?)_

 _("A spoken dialect of the Neanderthals, I believe.)_

"Are you still with me?" She called for my attention again. And again I responded, this time with something *slightly* wittier:

"Are you still leading me on for your own personal amusement?"

"That answers itself. But you're still with me, and I have a plan!" She smiled with some illusion of warmth, and I reciprocated. Then she brought her hand to her chest again. Again, I couldn't stop myself from looking. I drew my eyes up to see her smiling, then giggling - It almost sounded like a moan.

"Where to first?" We started to our right down the sidewalk.

"That's part of the plan: I'm not telling you. Money's no object, but expect a lot of walking. But trust me, it'll be worth it!"

Transition back to English: "Yes, I think it will."

* * *

...

* * *

Yuuma definitely wasn't lying about the walking, and I certainly had no problem with that. I think we walked all the way across Kuoh twice, although you _know_ how reliable I am!

However, I can confirm Kuoh Academy is on one far side, just inside the city limits, and we passed the more impoverished ghettos on the other side: houses reduced to neon graffiti canvases, bass-boosted doo-wop and disco music, strange runes I had a hard time pretending not to recognize, that sort of thing. I tried striking up a little awkward conversation in whatever languages I could, about the kinds of things I'd talked about with other people, but within five sentences it would drift off into silence for what felt like painful hours. Ophis, the film geek she was, had some quote about "shutting the fuck up and comfortably enjoying silence", and I don't think I'd ever understood the importance of that until now. I'd be happier sitting in silence with her or Irina or even Asia than trying to talk to Yuuma, I'll tell you that.

We reached our destination in a little over half an hour... Sort of.

A search would begin soon, I thought. Or maybe they already knew where I was, I could never tell. Maybe someone just wanted to see how this would play out.

Sadistically, I was curious to see how far this would stretch. Time to find out, soon enough.

We were now bordering on the edge of town, dense forest and narrow road somewhere down thataway beyond car tunnels and a railroad bridge. To our right, a dilapidated house rocking the two-storeys-in-one look held a sign that caught my eye. I turned to see it better, and was thrown off a bit by the bad use of language:

'"EmPTiE frAM or BLANcK cANVis', captioning the ashy outline of a vertical rectangle.

I pointed it out to Yuuma as we passed it.

In English: "What do you think of that?"

"Hmm... It looks like a drug addict tried and failed at abstract art."

"But what do you think it means? What were they thinking when they wrote it?" She shrugged.

"I don't know. And it's not important, is it? I don't think we ever really know anything, or anyone, and maybe that's why we feel alone all our lives." And, you know, that was actually quite a good segue. Maybe not the truest, but it had its interpretations.

"That's deep." And I meant it. If this were true, and she weren't just an Angel, she'd be an Angel in the less literal sense: perfection beyond humanity. Obviously, I was a stupid teenage boy looking at things how teenage boys do, but what if that really were the case? Or was something as absurd as a perfect human being simply too much for even Kuoh? Maybe. Maybe she knew nothing about what her "father" was, maybe she was truly interested in me, maybe she'd grown up all around the planet and listened and spoken as those different places would require!

Or is that just too unreal?

Of course, it wasn't. But it would be here, and now.

"Thank you." Now something kicked in, perhaps Ddraig, perhaps just those chemicals that cause nervousness. My breathing sharpened and my stomach dropped down there where the other stuff goes.

"And..." I had to pause. This was nothing, just a last ditch effort to see if it really couldn't be true. "It's that... we are alone, all our lives, and sometimes I think that makes us desperate."

Keep in mind that this whole time we'd been walking.

"Go on," she continued. "We're almost there!" My heart rate did another _a tempo_. Now I exhaled, and dropped my arms to my knees for support. "Issei?" I looked up at her. Was she actually beautiful? And were there really that many incredibly attractive 'babe-ettes" in Kuoh? Must be the most supernatural thing about this place.

Okay, let's reach this conclusion: Incredibly attractive? Absolutely, yes. Good? Absolutely nowhere close.

I held up a finger: one moment, please.

"I'm alright," I told her. "Just nervous. Happens randomly. Well... not randomly, but right now."

"Oh, you poor thing," she said in a slightly exaggerated tone. She lowered herself a little bit so that we'd be eye level. I brought mine up to meet hers. Her eyes were an amazing kind of amethyst color, I could see now. An Angelic color, probably. Hadn't she known it'd be obvious? Or was that simply her eye color, like a genetic trait too rare to ever have been documented?

It was time.

Abruptly, I threw my arms out, imitating the gesture made to Ophis all those years ago in my moment of insane vulnerability. They went around Yuuma's neck, and I found my torso squeezed up hard against her 'zonks' - breasts, if you prefer. My head went over her shoulder. I might've just been getting into the role, but my less literal 'dragon' reared its ugly head. Yuuma probably felt it.

My breathing steadied a touch. And then a switch was flipped.

"I think I'm in love with you," I told her, trying not to crack up.

"Oh, Issei," she began, hugging me back. "I'm in love with you too." I knew it. I guess I just didn't want it to be true, that I needed more proof. Stupid, irrational, warm-blooded teenage boy. Silly boy! Thankfully, Ddraig still existed, so of course he was ready.

And, of course, I was just plain curious how far the act could go. What was so important about keeping it up?

Then it dawned on me. Both Ddraig and I had missed that - either that or he hadn't told me. None of this mattered, did it? The knowledge was already passed on.

"Oh, fuck."

"What was that?"

I'd said it out loud, of course! Time to follow through, get this going.

"Oh, fuck, I'll do whatever you tell me to!" I whispered it, doing my poorest possible imitation of what people sound like when about to breed.

( _"Good save. Ready yet?")_

 _(Just about.)_

"Then..." She began. "Kiss me." I brought my head back from her shoulder, looked her in those stunning purple eyes for a moment, then looked for her lips. Without any greater thought as to what I'd do next, I brought my face forward to make contact with hers. I hoped she'd enjoy this while it lasted. My arms came out from around her back and settled towards her waist: under her arms, which would make it easier to defend against... something? I couldn't remember, and I've since remembered and forgotten that train of thought quite a few times.

I held it there for a moment, remembering after a second that this was my first kiss. Sixteen years and my first kiss was with a literal Angel. High standards for future kisses to live up to!

Yuuma didn't seem to have much problem with that, and she held it under the assumption that I'd break the kiss first. She let out a little moan that I actually found kind of pathetic. Was that how she'd sound as she was dying?

I broke the kiss in a single mechanical motion, wiping my mouth with the back of my now-freed hands. I was just playing with her at this point, right? I raised my eyes to hers again. The change was obvious now, from the subtle changes in body shape to the distortion of her clothes' color and texture. She smiled, but it was different: no hint of sincerity (or was that no hint of deceit?).

I'd had my fun. I summoned Ddraig, and my right hand fell asleep in pins and buzzing needles.

"What else would you want me to do, Yuuma Amano?" She looked a bit from side to side before nodding to herself.

"Would you..." She smiled, trying to give the illusion that it would be a joke. The pitch of her voice dropped a half octave, and she pointed her head down while her eyes remained level. "...Die for me?"

My hand started glowing green. Without looking at it I raised my eyes to the attractive junior with the big zonks and purple eyes. Now just another Doriel. If this were seventy-eight-times-seven, then it'd be exactly that.

"You first," I answered flatly. Would you feel the same way about me?" Yuuma's grin disappeared for a moment.

"Y-yes."

"Are you scared?" She was stepping back, into the empty road. Trying to get away.

"You're scaring me, yes."

"Were you expecting me to be ready?" She just continued stepping back like a rat from a stomping shoe.

 _("What good is threat without action? Shut up!")_

"Thank you for the reminder."

"What?" Yuuma called out.

And then we were both out: Issei and Ddraig on full display, blood red armor and green light. Issei disobeyed the Dragon, and with one mouth we spoke.

 _"No witnesses."_

"Please... I- I- I'll do whatever you want!"

We took a step forward, two, three. Our feet clinked against the pavement, cracking it a little with each step.

 _"We don't want anything from_ you," we replied. We continued forward, raising our left fist for the temptress to see. It glowed, dominating the world's light, washing it in the green of a Sacred Gear.

The Angel in question only continued to shrink back in fear - what a coward she was!

Let Issei describe to you where we were: we were on the edge of town when we'd stopped, and in some bizarre construction choice, sidewalk continued for several hundred feet beyond the last building, running parallel to the road and leading into the relative wilderness beyond. There was little else for miles except the occasional farm, patches of trees, and/or gas stations and the accompanying passing cars. Alongside the pavement, a shoulder sloped down on either side - Yuuma- _chan_ now found herself falling end over end through the grass. We followed her, grinning through the armor. She cried out, almost a hysterical, fearful sob. We chuckled a little, not quite enough to be audible.

She eventually got her feet underneath herself, skirt thrown up, shirt torn, whole body smudged by mud and grass. She got one more look at us, then suddenly some cowardly instinct kicked in and told her to run. She did. Too easy.

We saw her back: it seemed that small nubs were evident around her shoulder blades. And this infuriated us: no self-respecting Angel would simply run away in primal fear! Ddraig knew full and well such a thing was beneath them, and Issei could readily infer the same!

A simple jump saw us landing in front of the runner again, little tremors knocking her onto her back. Wide-eyed, the spy now resorted to scurrying away on her hands!

No matter. Let us savor this moment.

She continued to scream wildly, scurrying away like a little rat, now at a diagonal, trying to reach the border of the trees. An Angel, marking itself as a rat! We took our time, letting her first scurry, then get to her feet. We pursued, becoming airborne and trotting along at just the right speed to remain almost parallel.

Issei thinks we were laughing, and we were; It was funny, how this Angel chose to run! We could even see its wings poking instinctively out of the back of its shirt, begging to be let free.

She was running back towards town, we realized, a bit caught up in the moment. Now we must end this!

We swooped down, slamming into the ground behind her and knocking her to her knees less than five feet from the nearest evergreen. She was up and running, a little skip in her step as if to push off and gain momentum for flight. Either she did not want to do so, or she was trying and simply couldn't. We had no time to figure out which it was, and with the most momentary of hesitations we considered what must come next.

We zoomed forward, left arm extended, and shoved Yuuma to the ground with a nudge. She let loose a little scream. She wanted to crawl away yet again but a well-planted foot in the small of her back ensured no such thing. Most of our weight was on the other foot, as this balance ensured we didn't snap her spine accidentally.

The Angel turned her head to look up, delirious tears streaming, clogging, matting hair and twigs and mud to her face. We didn't see her blood. We heard her breathing - ragged, like that of a trapped animal.

We stared down at her for a moment, letting her despair sink in a few moments longer while she was immobile, then Issei spoke:

 _"Now I'm curious: what did you have planned for us out here?"_

We expected her to laugh defiantly, to gloat at some signal long-since sent that would send legions of her Angelic brethren raining down on us, to say she wasn't afraid to die, that this pain and fear were what buzzed her brain!

Instead, we received a straight answer:

"N-..." Weak. She had little strength left as Angelic adrenaline drained and she felt the weight of our foot against her. Futilely, she tried to turn her head, eyes finally finding us out of her peripheral vision, a once-possibly-endearing shade of grey, almost purple.

She continued to struggle, then words came.

"N-... N-nothing. I... j-just want-ted... t-to get-t y-you... ou-out here... alone... w-with m-m-me." She finished in a panting episode. We continued only to stare, expression masked by Ddraig's Dragonic helmet. Issei's never seen it, only sketches distorted by time, culture and the ever-unreliable word of mouth. He can imagine it to be something bearing little natural expression, mostly just an armored slab with some subtly etched runes and eye slits; that face stared down for some amount of time none were passing.

Then we reached our decision. No witnesses, after all. However, we remembered that we didn't have much time. We'd already been compromised.

With our same hand we reached down, fulfilling our personal ritual, tearing open the back of her shirt to amputate her wings, and found something peculiar:

Her wings had been reduced to only the nubs we'd seen; this meant that she was less likely to be detected hiding them unless someone were to really look for them, as we had; it also meant that she was defenseless, powerless to flee, only to run and be killed, ultimately disposable. But on the former subject of detection, they could simply be passed off as a birth deformity, correct? In this day and age, none would question it.

Dissatisfied, we separated them from her skeleton, screaming weaker than she'd had before, leaving something of a bloody mess among the grass. She might've passed out or even been reawakened by pain and blacked out again. Either way, she wasn't moving, and we took a step back, two, three, four.

In our right hand we clutched the two bones, the last remnants of the Angel's lost wings. We thought we saw little fuzz, almost like a baby bird's, starting to have grown back. Contemplatively, we examined these for a moment, then simply dropped them to the grass beside us. Before us, we could hear some labored excuse for breathing. Oh, the blood we saw... On the bark, on the grass, on Yuuma's own body, now inside-out in a way. If she were to awaken, every moment for a while would be nothing but terrible numbness or unknowable agony.

We'd made the most of confronting and punishing an Angelic spy who'd been left with no plan, defenses or weapons, Issei pushing her act to its limits, Ddraig manifesting to do the same to her fear. And now... it'd seemed a little too easy, too set-up. Of course, that's exactly what it was. We were compromised. We must head back to the Youkai House immediately, to regroup and prepare for the upcoming battle. There would be a battle, of course, to retrieve the magical girl and this new magical boy with her.

Ddraig had had enough, and retreated to the back of Issei's mind in solemnity.

* * *

I ensured a less painful end to Yuuma's life with a well-placed pop, left the body as it was, then began the journey back to the House at a lethargic pace. Yes, Angels were out to get me, as were some Devils, but so were the Youkai, and with any luck they'd find me. I'd need an explanation as to what happened to Yuuma Amano, preferably one involving an abrupt family matter that required an immediate move, no questions asked. With any more luck her "father" would be killed in the battle to come.

Speaking of which, how would that affect the rest of the town here? Would Motohama and Matsuda be okay? And the rest of the "real" humans of Kuoh?

Unimportant. I've lost people before, right?

What was important was Asia. And Ophis. And Yasaka and Shiva. And the rest of the Youkai, maybe even some of the factions they were allied with.

I'd also survive the trip home, I knew that. Ddraig was sulking again, but he was ready to go at any time. Without any more thinking, I started walking home. I passed trees, trees, more trees, what seemed like a fresh set of vandalized homes, parked cars, the occasional kids playing with their friends in a yard or somewhere they weren't supposed to. I thought at least one of them stared with something more than curiosity as I passed. One of them, a blond boy looking no more than eight, held up a sign with his right hand. Unlike the runes I'd seen with the late Yuuma, I truly didn't recognize this one. Kuoh had this way of getting bigger, didn't it? He bared yellow teeth at me, and I waved, hoping to put him off. More childishly, he held up his middle finger and stuck his tongue out.

 _"I don't know him."_

That was helpful.

I also had a black car of some ambiguous model drive by, tinted windows up save for the passenger side, where a pasty old man's arm poked out, surfing the breeze. As it passed in front of me, the old man's fingers twisted into finger guns, boom-blamming at things he passed. I thought I heard an inhuman cackle. Probably did. Good thing that gun wasn't pointed at me.

Just keep going, just keep going, I thought. Take in the views a bit more. There truly was a lot I hadn't seen before, that's the truth.

I passed some sort of silo, standing maybe thirty feet high, long out of use, corroded and overgrown with vines and weeds. I wouldn't have thought anything of it, except that I realized I had no idea what kind of crops Kuoh was in the area to grow, if any at all. I kept going.

Over across the street, I could see what looked like a young couple making out on the corner, animalistic but lethargic. Or maybe they were just high, or otherwise not in their right minds. Was this their first? Had they ever gotten to this point before, or simply found they didn't have it in them until they were out there where I - and the rest of the world - could see them? I was curious, but it was unimportant. I saw the two of them dropping to the ground and thought I heard a scream, but simply kept going. Maybe they were Angels too, or something worse.

Now I'd made it about eight or ten blocks, and passed through what could be called the town square. A startlingly large park ringed on three sides by parking spaces made up its center, and the various businesses and government functions were all there where they were easily accessible. It appeared somehow abandoned, even with patrons on every sidewalk and cars in every other slot, kids climbing on trees not meant to be climbed on and a man in a striped hoodie and top hat sitting down at a bench near me. He looked up at me, and I saw that it was indeed one of the Youkai from that morning. For a moment we simply stared at one another, then he nodded, got up in what looked like slow motion. Finally, a friend. I certainly wouldn't admit it then, but while I was losing myself in Kuoh's more eccentric scenery and the thoughts of what would come next, I never once lost that caution.

I didn't know this Youkai's name, either. Perhaps he simply didn't have one, I considered, simply was a creature connected by existence to other creatures like himself. Stranger things, right? But oddly specific.

He was my armed escort on the trip back to the Youkai House. Neither of us said a word, simply walked - me along the path I'd already routed out, him coming back the way he came. Not faster or slower than I'd already been walking. And his presence certainly didn't do anything about the things lurking in the alleys and nested in children's eyes. About all his existence told me was that Youkai patrols were more competent than your average stormtrooper. Better at aiming, too, probably.

 _I'd killed Yuuma._

It sank in slowly as we walked. I don't think my external expression changed once, but there it was, out in the inward open. I'd taunted her, ripped her open and put her down - a fellow student, a girl roughly my age, someone who couldn't act scared and so truly had to be. My feet shuffled along, tripping over rocks on the sidewalk, crossing and trying to keep up with the Youkai soldier. Curiously, I saw him slide his top hat up on his head, exposing a little of what looked like a bat's ear. And then it disappeared into curly hair and aristocratic hat again.

There were two more incidents where I thought I saw Angels: in one, the sky was beginning to darken with oncoming evening, and so found myself looking up to observe this fact. I thought I saw something like a vulture, but it was headed the wrong way, and a bit small besides.

And again, when I saw a crucifix scratched into a slab of concrete wall, but then saw how it had been expanded upon, made to look upside-down. But these modifying cuts weren't quite as deep, although just as damaging in the end. Get the message there?

We arrived just inside the dome, and it was around six or six-thirty. As previously mentioned, the sky was already getting darker. It always seemed to get dark when stuff went down, y'know? Or maybe that was the indicator that there'd be naked girls.

Yasaka was waiting with Ophis on her left and Shiva on her right, a few yards in front of the house. Shiva was back in his combat dress, Ophis dressed exactly as she had that morning, Yasaka simply as another unassuming citizen. The Youkai slipped out of sight somewhere between stepping inside the dome and stopping in front of the three of them.

I immediately started talking. And the three of them stood silently, receptive to information.

"There was a - "

"We know," Ophis replied.

"Really?"

"Nope. Please tell."

"Huh," I began, slightly annoyed at her. "There was an Angel at school. I went along with her ruse, got her alone and disposed of her. But they know. They all know." I looked around again, as if showing some gesture of sincerity. I think I also clamped my hands, as if to grasp those ingrown wing nubs again. But what really matters is that I looked up and for a moment night came over us in a wave. The other three saw it too.

And then it was gone. It was a bird passing over us.

A vulture.

"Issei," Shiva began. "We need you inside the house. Now."

Shit.

Of course, I stood there, a little dumbfounded by what I'd known for hours now.

"Issei, listen to the man in the dress," Ophis added.

"Find Asia, she's inside," Yasaka added.

There was no time to settle my frustrations, or to question what would happen next, just do as I was told, even if the three of them died keeping me - and the fate of Dragonkind, among other things - safe.

I started running through the grass.


	12. Act II: Bunker Fever

I heard yelling as I ran the last little way to the House. Then something like a cross between a steady flame and a crack of thunder. More yelling. Me, I just did what I could to focus on the ground beneath me and the shelter I was running to. No, I don't think I bothered with any of that "I'm too powerful not to help" crap, because even despite the Heavenly Dragon that coexisted in the same space I did, I was pretty sure we weren't there yet. And if anything went wrong, they'd get what they wanted, and we couldn't have that.

 _Tap taptaptap tap... tap tap._

 _Taptaptaptap tap tap... tap... tap... tap._

The door came open on its own and in I went, slowing down bit by bit until I stopped in the center of the foyer. I was regaining a bit of breath when I turned around to see who'd been so polite as to let me in, and there she was, dressed almost exactly as I'd remembered, face unrevealing.

"Hi," I muttered, although in terms of volume it couldn't exactly be called that - the noises of battle outside were just as loud as I was. In a big area such as this, you could hear the echo, both of myself and the outside. Our shoes weren't that hard, but every step seemed to translate into a thousand clonks, almost in succession but almost synchronized as well. And with that in mind Asia walked towards me. And I had to ask silently: "what would we do now?"

"Hi," she enunciated with the same volume, or at least something close to it.

"Hi," I replied back. ( _Stupid!_ ) "We need to go."

"I know."

"Good. Let's go." She nodded, and I turned around to start walking across the foyer, turning left as I initially had trouble remembering where we were supposed to be going. I was also pretty sure the House was empty, or at least everyone at battle stations except the objectives of the battle - us.

Now where was that crack in the wall? I saw the checkered pattern on this wall closest to the staircase: black against some kind of glossy yellow-brown, hand-sized squares running diagonal across about five feet in either direction from where I stood. If I remembered right, the seam was somewhere in the middle, and most prominent at my shoulder level. I resorted to probing the whole surface, holding out a hand and walking from side to side until I found it - somewhere more towards the right - and pressed inward. There was a little hissing sound, and soon there was that magical light showing through the crack, a whitish-purple of some sort of protective magic. It snaked along in either direction, slowly curving and then taking sharp juts up and down, forming a six-year-old's slowly-drawn circle reaching to the ground. The light died down, and I lowered my hand to the center of this door, where I pushed - just a little at first, then again with slightly more effort, then finally shoving it inward so that it would open. Instinctively, I was afraid it'd crumble, but it was built like a vault door, the only difference being that it looked like a fancy little fragile wall. It swung about halfway in, but that was more than enough for me to raise my left leg and step forward into the blackness.

"This looks safe." Sarcasm? Unimportant.

"I'm sure it is." I turned back around to face her, and beckoned with my right hand. She nodded, and stood there for a moment before moving her eyes, pointing me forward again. Was I waiting for her to take my hand? Hope not. I walked forward first into the blackness, taking note of how the floorboards seemed almost spongy, as if they were sinking ever so slightly under my feet. I could imagine them breaking and the two of us falling forever into nothingness below. How could that be?

 _("Just keep walking forward.")_

I did as I was told.

Our footsteps were silent. No amount of light from the outside could illuminate anything in here, it was just total blackness. It was... almost cold, but not even that. But it was still, I can tell you that much. No air flow from anywhere to anywhere, we just kept walking. I turned around once or twice and didn't see anything. The vault had shut. We couldn't get out if we wanted to, and I was considering it at this point. I'd never been in here before, only been told its location and the instructions describing what I've already told you. Kind of inconvenient.

I felt Asia bump me, and I thought I cried out, but I couldn't hear my own voice except as some kind of whistling noise, like a shrill flute. She might've done the same. I started reaching out a hand, probably brushed a couple things I wasn't supposed to (but would've liked to, given a different time and/or place), then eventually found her hand. The two clasped and we continued onward, myself leading.

 _("Keep going. I believe we're almost there.")_

And then we were there. My nose was the first thing to make contact, and it collided with something hard. For a moment I stumbled around, seeing stars through a watery haze and everything buzzing a little. I reeled back and Asia steadied me with her arm. After a moment and several dozen good blinks I regained myself, and pressed my left hand against the surface I'd hit. The thing, probably a brick wall plus enchantments, recognized and responded accordingly, and we could heard it dissolve into some sort of powdery thing that hung in the air. Making sure once again that I had Asia's hand, we stepped through it, passing through a fog so thick it crawled along your skin before popping out with an audible _thunk_ in our uneven steps.

After a moment we both collapsed to the floor, only now realizing that our breath had been taken from us. I felt a bit of that horrible tightening in my chest again, then it eased up its clamps, and my senses returned. Carpet. Even lighting, not quite dim and not quite bright, showing couches, chairs, tables, bookshelves.

"We'd..." - deep, gulping breath - "We'll be hiding out in style, won't we?" I got to my feet, then looked around for Asia. She was still behind me, a little drained of color but nothing alarming, especially now that our breathing patterns had returned to normal.

She started looking around, same as I did, and I followed the trail of her eyes. I found things I hadn't seen before, such as the fact that the ceiling was maybe fifteen feet high all the way around.

"Maybe. What're we going to do here?" Asia responded. I continued to look around, curious for no real reason.

"What do you mean?"

"We'll be here a while." That was a valid point.

"I see books. How much do you like to read?" Partially to answer another question of my own, I walked over to the bookshelf against the wall to my right. A lot of the old, thick hardcovers with the gold letters in that swoopy font that always gave me a headache no matter how well I could translate it. Reading was never a strong suit of mine anyway. As for Asia? I should ask her about that.

Finally, I decided to plunk down on one of the couches. It sank maybe two inches, and I wondered how far down it would go if weight were really put on it.

"So..." I began. How are you supposed to make conversation at a time like this? But, then again, how else were you supposed to break tension?

The silence held for a moment. I could hear her breathing as well as my own. And what was that humming in the background? Magic? Probably, now that you think of it.

"...how much do you like to read?"

She appeared confused by the question, and either took the time to decide or to make sure she held my attention. Eventually, there was some sort of brief grin in her eyes I couldn't understand.

Her eyes went down, and mine followed the example. She held a crimson book (with that dreaded gold swooping!) against her stomach. Her sleeves were rolled up to the elbow.

"I believe so."

The meaning carried, more or less.

My gaze came back up a second or two late, but her face was still settling from subtle enthusiasm to that impenetrable neutrality. Her eyes were _so green_! Then the emotion was gone.

We would be alone until one of several things happened: (a) The battle was won; (b) The battle was lost; (c) we were retrieved before it was over, by one party or another. In the meantime, I slid my shoes off, plopped down on the couch nearest our entryway, and laid a pillow behind my head.

I heard the _whiff_ ing and rustling as Asia found her couch. That book was propped in her lap, and I looked right to see a stack of several more on a coffee table. "Believe so," my ass! - this girl turned casual reading into a professional skill!

It was noteworthy enough that I was now curious, and nothing would stop my curiosity, not without anything better to do. What was she reading?

"Is it any good?" I asked her. Her eyes went through several rows of text before she could - or would - respond. She looked up. Several strands of gold had fallen into her face, and she brushed them aside. What was that fancy nun's headdress called again? Whatever it was, she'd worn it before, and now opted to forego it.

"It's ancient. That's all I know."

"And what is it?"

She sighed without cause.

"It's some kind of lost epic poem, about two newlywed warriors who're fighting through different armies on opposite sides of the world to unite with one another. Or... at least that's what the back reads. It's not a language I've seen before, but it could be Greek - or maybe Hebrew." Any who's read either language would wonder how one could be mistaken for the other, but there are ways.

Now I was willing to risk some eye strain. I got up, sharing that empty dizziness with those idiots who get up too fast.

"Could I see that?" I requested, fully aware how redundant the request was. She held the book out, and I picked it up. I read through it. And...

"That..." I began. "That is how you confuse Hebrew and Greek."

 _"I believe that is a language you've heard at least once already."_

Well, that would certainly explain why the text looked so ugly. I could just hear Asia reading it aloud now, difficult diction perfectly-executed, but a rose would still be called something a lot uglier than "a rose"!

I handed it back to her after several moments, sat back down again, and was silent for some time. She was reading. I guess I was... thinking?

* * *

Plenty of weird fantasies over those next few minutes. I found a neutral, comfy position on my couch, and laid down. I could've completed some sketches, maybe even a few certified Not-So-Safe-For-Work, but I suppose I was just incredibly aroused and had no way of doing anything about that, except hovering there in my own head until I got bored or tired.

A couple of these were a sort of sick-sweet, such as Asia caring for me like a child with a boo-boo; Bobby came to mind, which kind of killed it. Others were decidedly more vanilla, such as bending one of the smart-and-smokin' juniors over a (thankfully bolted-down) cafeteria table. Others still... I can't say.

The point is, I was right: eventually I got tired of that and had to get up and stretch. Again, I came up just a bit too fast. I threw a hand out to one of the couch's arms, caught it, and did what I could to even myself out.

I heard chuckling. Three guesses who it was. I turned around.

"It's probably anemia," I told her, trying my best not to catch that contagious smile. I wasn't sure where the word had come from, but now I understand that I'd gotten it right in that regard. Not enough iron in my breakfast and lunch that day, I guess. Murdering someone probably didn't help, either. Takes an iron stomach to take a life.

"I can help, if you want me to." Suddenly, I was reminded that she'd been a sort of career healer for the Church. Wasn't not laughing at the injured person one of the first things they taught? I'd imagine. Or maybe there was something else regarding when discipline was and was not required. I considered this for a moment. This wouldn't be followed by wild Freudian Missionary, would it? If it was, then I'm insane.

It took a couple moments to figure out what would be said. I settled on "It's not a problem", and said so. She nodded obediently, but kept watching. I didn't know where I was going, except that I needed my feet below me for a while.

There wasn't that much to this place. It was a one-room safe where the money could wait in comfort to be extracted by the teller. Back the way we came, the wall was something like a cloud of tar. Opposite that "wall" was a blank white surface with a picture or two on it. One, to the left and slightly up from the other, was a Biblical oil painting of demons approaching a flock of sheep from behind, hung in a silver frame. Slightly down and to the right, the other was a gold-framed dramatic portrayal of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, handing Judas Iscariot a bag of coins. I paced between the two walls for who knows how long.

Then I sat down again. I didn't see any drawing materials anywhere, and I'd dropped my backpack like irradiated clothes at the door - bad habit. I just didn't know what to do! If anything was going to happen, it'd best happen, right? I looked at Asia again. She'd scarcely moved since sitting down there, and I couldn't tell you how many pages she'd gone through.

I suddenly decided to ask.

"How far've you gotten through that?" She turned around, looked up. _Fuck,_ those green eyes made it hard to avoid eye contact!

"It's not that great." Not exactly the question at hand. "It's been slow," she added after another moment.

I made my way back to my couch.

"Please, tell me about it." I sat down, taking a few moments to find a comfy position.

Asia cleared her throat for effect. _Was she going to read it aloud to me? In English, this strange tongue or whatever her native language was?_

 _"And so it was that on the fourth day of merry battle, Hariat was finally struck in the leg by a stray spear. She made herself thrown to the ground crying 'No! I shall not see my beloved again! I shall die behind this rock alone and surrounded by monsters! At least, I can see that each holds your countenance, lest I die not feeling you beside me!'"_

That was what it was supposed to be. I cut in several times with uncontrollable laughter, and eventually Asia responded: first by twisting her voice into something more operatic, then taking several gasping breaths mid-sentence and falling to giggles. She looked up several times, as if gauging my own laughter to tell her when to stop. But let me tell you, there was no stopping either of us! This boring story was made interesting by its readers!

"But she - !" Gasping. "It's just so - !" Smiling so wide it hurt. "Who wr- !" Practically squealing and whooping, body slowly spasming, wriggling from the couch to the floor. Both of us fell in the same direction, pushing away the table between us and seemingly being pushed by it.

That became both of us after a moment. Before either of us knew it, our heads both reached to the middle of the floor, at least. We were still laughing, fueling each other's continued amusement. You know what that's like, right? You're laughing over nothing because someone's laughing with you.

It was easily ninety seconds into a cackling fit when someone's hand landed in a strange spot. I felt some... I couldn't recognize it at first. It was a surprise, and a perfect one. I would've liked to brush that forever. To try drawing it, reproducing that sensation into a single image. To compare everything else to it.

No, I didn't get a handful of _oppai_. My left hand went up at some odd angle, my elbow bent and brought it down so my knuckles brushed her hair and cheek. Like I said, we were both spasming from how hard we'd laughed.

Silence.

I got up. At roughly the same time, she did, too. It was awkward, like... I'm trying to find a reasonable example. Maybe... maybe it's like two conspirators in murder both suddenly realize they plan on killing a fellow being and suddenly want to sever all ties to such thoughts - or perhaps to remove the temptation to go through with it.

We ended up facing each other as we each stood up. There goes that eye contact again!

 _If I take three steps forward, wrap my arms around her and kiss her, what would she do? Would she embrace it? Shove me back? Start yelling for me to stop? Try insisting there was nothing here? How far could she take it, either way?_

 _("That IS a question: how far can she take 'it'?")_

 _Please, Ddraig, stop bothering me._

 _I want to do so many things to her right now, yet... all of them are wrong. Angels and sword-bearing human crusaders could march in here at any moment, as well. Gods and Youkai can't hold them off forever._

It could've been that the darling not even four feet from me was facing a similar sort of anxiety, or maybe she was waiting for my train of thought to come full circle.

"That shouldn't have happened."

I can't remember who said it. Whoever it was, they were right.

Back to the silence, then.

We were waiting for our fates to be determined for us, and we were still succumbing to teenage urges, I could imagine some figure of authority commenting in a harsh, flat tone. I couldn't decide who'd say it, and wanted to find some other distraction when I couldn't find an answer.

Asia had moved on to another book, this time a blue one covered with these inky weblike... what would those be? Whatever it was, it was one snaking bump against a cover which was regardless falling apart. It had no title that I could see.

Now I had to see if there was any drawing material here - anything I could use to put a thought into an image. Maybe then I could guess what I was thinking. Would it be some other new Dragon with symbolic deformities? Or maybe some artsy nude that the boys would appreciate but not fully comprehend? I got up, searching through all the things I'd looked through before, trying to see if this magic panic room came ready with provisions regarding the sanity of its occupants.

I think I should say it again: Ddraig is fairly inconsistent with when he chooses to show himself. He never once said anything during this whole scouring. Asia never took her eyes out of that book, either.

I made up my mind after some painful duration that there was nothing to be had here, and everyone I had was indifferent. That led to a much-needed internal change of subject: _What time would it be now?_

Whatever it was, I was tired. Sleep would be nice, but something stopped me, like it was imperative rest only come later. I couldn't hold my eyes shut, even as I laid down, used one of the couch's cushions as a pillow and threw my jacket over myself. Optimal sleeping conditions, yet I couldn't drop out of high alert.

Before I knew it, thoughts translated into words.

 _Today I did a fair amount. Found an (alleged) Angel in the school, tested her, accompanied her all across town, killed her when she seemed to least expect it. Now I'm stuck in some kind of magic bunker with nothing to do but wait with a girl I want to do everything I can to protect. If anything happens, we're screwed. If nothing happens, I might as well just not exist until the battle outside is over. We're too stupid and hormonal to be left here till the last enemy falls screaming._

I didn't realize I'd said any of that out loud. And it wasn't immediately addressed, either.

That whole "not existing" thing was sounding pretty good right about now. I could just hear Matsuda yelling over my shoulder: _"Cut the stoic crap and turn your blue balls black and shriveled with this chick!_ _"_

Have I told you I really hated him sometimes? I don't think I have. Motohama too, but his comeuppance should be a lesson learned. If Masuda was right, he wouldn't forget a lesson like that. I didn't have to see it myself to know that.

And... in come the sexual thoughts again; in comes the train through the tunnel, girls!

 _It starts out like any good porno would: sparse backdrop, like a spotless garage or empty bedroom; girl twirling her pigtails with one hand while running the other over her paper-thin shirt. Nothing's left to the imagination... except my imagination, after all. I'm standing in the doorway. Empty bedroom it is._

 _The whole room's an uneven pentagon, with the bed, three walls and a window all square relative to one another but not the doorway. The girl's sitting on her knees, feet tucked under her. She looks up, tries to smile, but something drowns out all else in her face, something I can't really catch. Her eyes, wide now, form a line for my own vision to follow. The window behind and to her left - my right - is uncovered. Outside, sunlight blares, destroying depth, shade, any sort of definition of the world outside. Never a good sign._

 _"Look," she orders, but it's like she's speaking underwater in an unknowably large Atlantean coliseum. It's incredibly muffled, yet bounces around surfaces and replicates infinitely. Not like the voice was coming from a small Room of Filmed Intercourse._

 _If I look out that window, one of two things will happen: mercifully, I could be blinded by that light; realistically, I will see everything I don't want to see. Still, can't hurt to move out of the doorway and into the room, right? My eyes remain directed towards that window as I enter._

 _It can't even qualify as a room - it's more like a closet (or a confession booth)._

 _The girl is suddenly some scaly creature, but that doesn't stop her from having long hair and large breasts. The air becomes warmer by the second. My heart seems to swell, a reflection of something else that can't quite do the same._

 _"Did you see?" That voice! If you could screw a voice, I'd commit every carnal sin under God's Heaven to that sound._

 _"I will," I tell the beautiful creature. Scaly lips peel back from healthy, human teeth. A human tongue flicks and rolls from between the pearly whites._

 _Then I realize this isn't right. I can't even remember how I'd arrived here. Unimportant, now that I'm here._

 _Some part of me wants to look through that window. To see what awaits out there. Burning yellow sunlight forms a fog of dust around the window. The beautiful creature's eyes remain on me with intent to (eat?) kill. And looks could kill._

 _My hands brace against the tan wall, little blemishes and paint clots running under my palms. I tiptoe, try to crane my head up, but the window is **just too high up!** My legs turn to rubber, my hands slide upward, but the window never seems to move. I can hear some kind of vague noise out there, a kind of scratching like rats caught in the walls of a house. The light seems to grow hotter and hotter, warming my scalp and turning my skin to needles. I turn my head._

 _My eyes swing their focus from that window and suddenly I'm aware that the ground is far below me. I'm on stilts, it seems. I can't tell where they end. If I fall from here, I could die._

 _"Get down here!" The creature yells, urgently, as if she cares about me. "You could die!"_

"Yes, I could."

"You could what?" Asia had heard me. I looked up at her, a little dizzied. What would I tell her?

"I could..."

 _Sit here in silence._

 _Ask for one of your books._

 _Find a bathroom and drain myself as needed._

 _Save the Dragon species from extinction with your help._

 _Go back outside, guns blazing, and die in a glorious battle for the ages._

 _Work on homework, for all I know and care, which I don't - not about school, anyway._

"...kiss you."

Crap. Wrong word, idiot! You're supposed to say 'Keep sitting here' or one of the options listed above. Never say something the person you're addressing could take the wrong way, there's enough miscommunication in this godforsaken world as is!

The book fell drunkenly into her lap. This one had a brown cover. She hesitantly drew a cross on her chest, then let her hands fall into a praying position, as if the old habits would process the four words for her.

I wanted to apologize. But sloth breeds sloth, and I'd fallen victim to it. Watching her, there was something serene about it.

The whole bunker-or-whatever shook. Like a stomp. The shade on the lamp wobbled in what could've been a circle. Asia's hands clamped around each other, her eyes squeezed even farther shut. One of the loose books fell from its shelf and landed behind Asia's sofa. Then another.

 _"The battle moves. It must be won or lost, but quickly. I'm getting tired of waiting, and you were starting to bore me. Rejoice!"_

 _All stuff I know. At least, I hope I do._

One big rumble, and it passed as quickly as it came.

Asia's eyes opened again. I couldn't read them any better than any previous time.

"Okay."

* * *

There's this incredibly clear image: a grey-steel background. In the foreground, a silvery-black snake rests in some kind of imperfectly-circular coil. Orange-red eyes snap open, and the beast untangles itself, seeming to grow longer and longer as there appears no tail in sight. Its mouth flicks open, revealing a milk-white forked tongue.

That's all I could think of when Asia sat up a bit straighter. I took note of her footwork now as she unfolded her legs from a kind of Indian-style stance: some kind of brown boot, worn, homemade-looking, laced up in some crisscross I can't describe. Had I taken note of that when I first ran into her?

"What?"

"You heard me." Not a drop of joking, mockery, or dry sarcasm.

Before I knew it, she was beside me. I was scared. Shaking. Heart thrumming more with each beat. Probably more erect than I'd been in a long time, if you want to believe that.

She untied her shoes, took them off, laid them on the carpet, and curled up to my left on the couch. I forgot that I had arms, just laid there like less-than-limp noodle.

 _God, she was beautiful!_

She hadn't said anything else; I had to talk first. Her face was inches from mine, and so I was inclined to whisper.

"Are you sure this is what you want?"

"What I want is unimportant right now." Something about that sentence seemed hypocritical, though I never could understand why. In hindsight, she would've still been right, anyway.

 _("Sometimes you sicken me.")_

She kept leaning in. Slowly, I found the energy to turn my head. And then...

Can you imagine being punched, tickled and stabbed all over, all at once? Having your blood run still in your veins no matter how fast your heart beats? Having a silver dragon that's uncurled inside you suddenly lash out, threatening to tear itself free from your stomach? That's what it felt like.

And it was one of the greatest sensations I'd ever experienced. With... some underside, something scary. My eyes didn't close in ecstasy, they remained open - widened, even. I saw the way Asia's head had tilted so our lips could touch in spite of our noses.

 _("Now. Now! NOW!")_

I wanted to do it. I wanted to do it so badly. Ddraig knew that (but of course he would, why wouldn't he?). I wanted to slide my tongue between her lips, do a little oral salsa, wanted to take it farther than that. But for a moment I think I was so paralyzed I had no idea how that could happen.

A hand came up - probably mine. Cupped her face. I wanted to shift my weight so that she was below me, so we were stacked like Jenga. But that didn't happen, we remained level to one another.

And all at once the moment was broken.

And the bunker rattled again - briefly, like a gunshot, and gone. Guess which one she'd wanted to come first, to say later that she'd broken away out of startlement. For a moment, I heard her shudder, thought of how impregnating her would produce a similar sound with a different purpose. Even the sound of Asia regaining her breath was arousing. My own breath came back slowly, through deep bellows inward. She moved away as if I'd hurt her. I really hoped I hadn't.

"We shouldn't have done that," she said. "You shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have done that." _But we should have. I did. You did._

For a moment her head tilted down (in shame?). Then she got up as if falling in reverse, and adopted the role of Pacer-'Round-the-Room.

Another incredibly clear image: Asia staying right where she stood as I suddenly leapt out, throwing my arms around her, and her arms around me. There was not a molecule which would separate us from one another. We would be safe; I because she was safe, and she because I was. Sometimes that kind of thing sounds selfish, but it shouldn't; it sounds like simple blunt honesty to some.

But between that and what I've already told you, only one of those can be real. And Asia was pacing as if waiting until Judgement for an infraction against her own ethics.

Somehow, it was too much - and yet nothing close to enough. Suppose I'd had no right to do any of what had just been done, exploiting this situation in such a way.

I wanted them to find us now. To throw magical doors aside and threaten us from the outside, so we'd have no choice but to focus externally. And it'd be easier to comprehend, besides. Its stakes would be understood. Our tools would be comprehended on the conscious level. It wouldn't confuse me or hurt my feelings if I were to lose, such an event would simply kill me or worse, that I could understand.

Anything but this. Anything but the work of an idiot and a young damsel lounging around in some (perhaps literally) God-damned bunker!

The idea of praying crossed my mind, and I thought I'd put it out as soon as I recognized the thought for the gallows humor it was. _'Dear Whatever Lord is Still Alive, we can't stay here. I can't stay here. I'll lose what little mind I have left.'_

* * *

Not fast enough, apparently.

The prayer was answered.

* * *

The rumbles continued to grow, the intervals between each shortening, the sounds becoming closer. Asia hardly seemed to notice, just like she hardly seemed to remember I was there, or what world she was in.

Not much time could've passed since the prayer, but sometimes time is more impatient than the people passing through it, it seems.

Another particularly close one knocked me out of my seat and was gone quicker than it had come. I grunted as my head fell to the floor, and there was no chance for reflexes - human or otherwise - to save face. My face, in particular. Just as noses are important in kissing because of how they protrude, so too can a rock-hard carpet floor kiss a face.

Blood was everywhere. I cupped my nose in my hands, groaned several times, perhaps Asia would take notice. She didn't. Or didn't want to.

Now the battle outside had become a sort of background noise you could strain to hear. I'd stick my ear to a wall, but something told me that these walls were not to be touched. So I obeyed this, taking it as plain truth. Still, it was like TV static even though plain ol' air. I found a sitting position on the floor, holding my nose between my palms.

 _("So long from battle, the Bearer of the mighty Welsh Dragon falls into decrepitude.")_

 _(Thank you, Ddraig. I thought I told you to shut up.)_

"They're getting closer," Asia remarked with some kind of... urgency? I looked up at her and nodded, though I'm sure she didn't see the gesture. She'd started looking around every which way as she was surrounded by hungry wolves and the walls were closing in. Couldn't blame her for that part; my sentiments exactly, it seemed.

A Youkai entered. I'm not sure when he came in, but I didn't see him, nor did I register his presence for what must've been several long moments. He wore a battered French soldier's hat, footy pajamas, some kind of modified tool belt, pure white suspenders and cowboy boots. Even that one would warrant a chuckle from both of us when we saw him. I spat blood as I did.

"Mun-seer Hyoudou, Madamazell Argento," the Youkai bellowed with an accent not an ounce European. "You're to come with me. Right now."

Inwardly, I breathed a sigh of relief. A shaky one. When he saw me, Sleepy Frenchy grimaced a little. Probably had a hankie on him somewhere.

Sure enough, he pulled one out of nowhere, and in three strides it was in my hand, then beneath my nose. Then he was already walking through the whatever-in-the-hell-it-was. Then he lied:

"We'll fix that little bleed later."

* * *

...

* * *

 _ **Welly welly welly welly welly welly well.**_

 _ **Hope you don't mind the time taken, the slightly shorter chapter, or the chapter's overall content. Sometimes it takes an outside observer to see how bizarre or even deranged something is. A good example of this is, what else, a story:**_

 ** _High school Algebra class is a weird time. I'm at a table with some weird people. Out of nowhere, I start rambling about dreams I've had on and off since I was maybe three: senient flaming dumpsters which moved down hallways with the speed unlike anything I can name. Rituals where a man was decapitated and his head replaced with a large-toothed hairbrush easily the size of my little 3-yr-old body. "Waking up" (not really, just felt like it) strapped into an apparently self-driving car doomed to crash, killing its sole passenger. I was told that with dreams like that at such a young age, I probably needed a doctor. This had me grinning, and as they talked about their dreams I realized they were probably right. Then again, we also talked about the Habsburg family, edible pepperoni nipples and that one bully from A Christmas Story as well._**

 ** _Speaking of which: Happy Holidays to y'all, wish each and every one of you the best holiday season you can, and it's been... fun. Expect more soon, who knows._**

 ** _(Not to worry, the whole story's been plotted out for some time now, it just takes some effort to put into the right words and at the right pace, sometimes.)_**

 **:-{ )**


	13. Act II Finale: Fell Off the Wagon

I might've told you before, but... I can't even remember what I would've told you before.

The Youkai picked us up and we exited out the way we came - except that it was now a simple walk through a corridor and some draped sheets. _Huh_. I turned around, and the drapes seemed to pull back away from my vision into Infinity. _Doubly so._

I didn't know the Youkai's name, and would never get the chance to learn.

Also, I don't know if I should talk about wanting Asia to hold my hand or not. We're both targets and we've got to stick together, right? We didn't do that, and in the moment, the words _eating me up_ came to mind. In some ways, the idea was wholly erotic; in others, it "broke my heart," so to speak.

"Where are we going?" I can't remember which of us asked that. The Youkai had no reply, simply kept us moving. Either that or, as I realize now, he had not a clue in the world. He passed us through the foyer and up the flight of stairs that led to my bedroom. Through some act of black magic he made a single turn around a corner I'd never seen and disappeared. I tried to follow. Asia must've lost patience with me, because she found it before I did.

Then I saw it. A set of old pull-down steps waited to take us up. Were it not for her modest dress, Asia would've revealed a sinfully sweet ass to me, I was sure of it. I settled for what I got and climbed after her. Once I was up and safely immersed in the smell of sawdust the Youkai pulled the ladder up and tied it in place.

As you can guess, I'd never been up here. Hadn't even known this place within the place existed. It looked like... an attic.

Huh.

The Youkai House has an attic. Who would've guessed?

"What now?' Again, whoever said that is unimportant. But he took the time to respond!

"Battle's taken a turn for the worst. Angels really kick butt, no denying that." _Not against me_.

 _"Especially against you,"_ Ddraig commented. I know my response was aloud. When you remove a whole voice from a conversation, things take new meaning, and it's strange and wonderful all at once.

"And our solution is to hide in an attic? No shielding runes or anything like it I can see, it's not secluded or hard to..." I remembered that turn. Was that what it was?

"Hard to what? Find? It's not. But what solutions do _you_ have?" I looked around. Even barer bones than the bunker or my room. Exposed beams, most of them pretty light in color. The only light came from the little crack of a window. It was night.

Where do you go from the attic? It's a sandwich between the roof and the main floors. Ground and sky. One entrance...

Two exits.

"Out," I mouthed.

"What?" I was staring out that little crack of starlight when the Youkai needed clarification. With a hand barely my own, I raised to point.

"Out."

The first orange fireburst indicating the battle flared up to our level.

"You let me out, I can turn the tide." I wanted to add _Asia too, if she's willing_ , but that would defeat the whole purpose of what I was trying to do, wouldn't it?

Without waiting for permission I started walking closer to the oversized eyeslit. The Youkai made some initial move to stop me, then must've decided against it. Asia didn't move at all.

Things really had gone to shit since I'd been told to run. The battle below was like a picture in a brass frame. The orange flareup was one of dozens scattered across the ground like ritual bonfires. Youkai struck outward from their huddlings in a couple protective domes. Formless white apparitions the size of elephants shot down Holy lightning, screeched like rabid eagles.

A long black-purple streak from one side of the clearing to the other. A serene blue cloud of destruction goes with it. In the moonlight, it's not just spectacular but picturesque. Even the feral yells from all sides. I'd later try drawing that picture myself, become disappointed in its inaccuracy halfway through, and drop it entirely.

But no matter how beautiful it was, it was a battle. The Youkai - the occupants of this house - would die if someone or something else didn't help them. Against so many Angels the first Dragon and a Hindu deity could only do so much. Just as a teenage boy can only avoid the urge to witness in awe for so long.

I thought I would run, burst through the window, do something drastic. Couldn't burst through the window from that bunker, could I? And right now, if this Youkai had been right to grab us, they'd've reached the ground floor by now, at least. Did they see the crack in the wall, in that case? Known what to do about it? I just don't know, man.

Still, I hung there a few minutes longer - at least it felt like that long. I imagined that I was already down there with them, slaying and reveling in the violence. And later... rejoicing. With Asia, with anyone else willing to join the party. Keep going, this distracted train of thought would've gone further, and I was pulled back before that could happen.

Again, it's unimportant who said it:

"If you're going to jump, jump."

They were right.

"Out," I muttered again, providing myself verbal instructions. And to that little thing inside me.

A couple steps back.

Hardly even two forward. The Welsh Dragon turned me inside out before I hit the boards. Glass shattered silently in our ears.

The world fell silent around us as we hit the grass - what grass was left, anyway. A lot of it was just mud and gore now.

With eyes that belonged to neither Ddraig nor Issei we looked around. Angels, Youkai, priests with the white collar-things and crucifixes carrying old swords and shields. The view was even better from the ground. Heads turned to see us, too. Oh, how we could _smell_ the shit in their pants!

 ** _"Are we going to stand around, or are we going to fight!?"_**

I suppose all anyone needs is a little taunting.

* * *

One Angel is enjoyable. A legion of them squeezed into a single forest is a party. And we needed a party.

Seven in our immediate vicinity. What spreads quickly and is absolutely deadly - For irony, a symbol of Holy Purity?

 _ **"FAYAAAAH!"**_ And we breathed fire. The humanoid mouth faces forward, but a Dragon cares not for direction. The fire inferno spread as a ripple, and at least one of the Angels was thrown back against another of those bonfires. We cackled like the flames themselves as we sent the Holy monsters reeling.

We had claws - and an iron grip within them. With a speed beyond human comprehension, we approached the nearest Angel by the throat. He was sure surprised, let me - us - tell you that. And we were sure enjoying this! We threw him into his pals, and they'd clearly never fought us before. One even hit a bonfire-thing and appeared to burst into flames before fate decided it simply would not be so.

Fate decided plenty would not be so, actually.

We were ready when the next few Angels came at us. A proud beating of wings knocked them down, and when is fire enough fire? We let it flow like vomit from our mouth. Sickness met disease, and it was Holy. Oh, how we felt - !

" **That's enough!** " It wasn't us. Silence. Everything went still. A little ambient kind of crackle from the fire.

That boss from before floated down as if he still had a Heaven to descend from. Did I mention him? - hitting Asia, Yuuma's "father", that guy? I didn't know his name, didn't need to. Here he was, all decked out for a thousand-year crusade, from the silvery-white mail to the Shiva-worthy leotard to the big fricken' swords. He floated to the ground as if on a wire.

When you get a source of fire large enough, and in abundance, it takes on a sound closer to rain, or thunder. On a clear night like this, that's all I heard. No animals, none of the _many_ people here, just... a fire that doesn't sound like fire. Who needs ritual bonfires in a battle, anyway?

(Mythical creatures, that's who!)

Everyday human work shoes touched what was left of the grass. In three steps he was firmly on the ground, wings curled up behind him like an unsightly backpack. His swords folded up in his hands, too, although we still didn't drop our guard. Instead, we just moved closer to the nearest fire source. This one was a big cone of blazing wood more than a head taller than we were, still burning steady. This Angel did not move at all, except maybe the eyes.

"Issei, Issei, Issei!" He droned. Again, his face seemed to take on a deeper expression with each word spoken, like a pit being continuously dug. "We've made quite the mess here."

" _ **We'll clean it up. And you'll leave.**_ "

"And do you know why we came here at all - really, do tell us what we intend to do.

( _"It's a trick.")_

 _I know._

Still, it was a trick that tricked us. It took us time to gather our answer, although in that time our guard did not once drop.

" ** _You're... You're sent here because you know who we are. What we have._** " He smirked, refusing to turn his head to look us in the face. A slight chuckle, clearly forced for our convenience. The smirk, however, was genuine, maybe even a full-on smile behind discipline.

"Well if that's not a vague answer, I don't know what is!"

We did not make any response to that.

"You have no idea what we're doing here, do you?" The answer was obvious, yet it took _so long_!

"Let us explain," he continued. Not only his complexion, but his voice grew dizzyingly twisted now, too. "We're not here for you, or even to destroy this place, God, no!" He was showing teeth now. "We're just here to take back what's ours!"

He pointed.

Stupid, stupid!

It was so stupid Ddraig wanted to leave right then and there, proud as he was. Issei wouldn't let him break the bond yet - _I_ couldn't lose him. Not now.

" _ **No!**_ " Again, you have no idea what the element of surprise can do. Behind me, flames welled up into something almost like a crying fit. Five - no, seven - scratch that, _twelve_ Angels rushed at us, previously-unseen weapons raised high, approaching at the same speed from all sides.

The boss Angel's whisper came over it all, vocal and facial intensity peaking:

"Not. Now." All twelve Apostles (correct comparison?) did a quick midair backpedal with choreographed sync, drew away.

"Very good." Now he turned to face us. "We just want our Sacred Gear back. That's it." Not the person, the Sacred Gear. Issei - me, if you prefer it that way - had a little bit of an angered tear welling up at that, but Ddraig served as the disciplinary force, just like the grin forced down to a smirk.

" _ **She's not yours. She's not anybody's.**_ " This was not the battle we wanted: a battle of words. Imagine blueballing, but suddenly your penis is _literally_ a deadly weapon - and so's the rest of you. That's how we were slowly realizing we felt. We just wanted to fight, and with Asia exposed we had some to really fight for!

Did I mention that in this time, all of the Youkai were pulling out? Great bunch of help they were, although we couldn't blame them.

"You're wrong, kiddo," he patronized. "We all belong to someone. Just like..." He gave a short whistle, like he was summoning a dog.

We wanted to charge him, see what weapons he had up his sleeve, anything to break this! But if we did that, we couldn't account for everything that could happen. Not with all these Angel's around and what Youkai there were everywhere.

He just stood there, waiting. But not for us to make a move.

"Would you like to fly up, get a better view?" He didn't wait for a reply, just whipped out black wings, slapped the ground to oblivion. We were up after him in no time.

"You'll want the view for this part," he told us from several feet overhead. "Your eyes are pretty good, right?"

And they were. He reached a point, and we stopped right at that point - no lower, no higher. Hovered there for a moment, and we weren't sure what we were looking for. Lot of trees, mud, fire, moon, a lot going on at once for a single picture. Not that we minded, for reasons already stated.

 _'We all belong to someone.'_ Was it right? And what did the Angel mean? What was it hoping to show us? We stole a look back at the House, and saw that the battle resumed had been a losing one. Against multiple literal gods and dozens if not easy hundreds of well-trained Youkai, and we lost anyway. Some vandals had gotten to the fortress itself, peeling back the outer layers of brick and stone like old paint, exposing an underside that was more airy bat-holes than anyone would've liked to admit. That roof would probably cave in over an area easily the size of my little room, although we couldn't possibly guess at the full extent of combined damage. There were also... Now, what were there? And what was that moving in the trees? Clearly something big, right?

Not in the literal sense, big, but big enough.

Nothing, though.

"What's taking so long?" We wanted to chuckle, decided collectively that doing so would be unwise. But surely he was just building an even greater sense of theatrics, of mystery. And it was working, so he was doing it right. Nothing that big in the forest, and nothing that knew enough of Angels to willingly keep them waiting.

We would use our senses, yes? That usually works. What we heard: very faint, but footsteps, completely out of sync with the rustling of trees, even as it came and went. Small, careful steps, methodically nimble but not inaudible. We felt cold, in that clairvoyant way you can be cold when a storm approaches, or a low-rise is five minutes from collapsing like the big log in a fire. We smelled... nothing. Too much smoke and decay, too much other life, and not enough left of the right kinds.

Whispering: "Oh, here it comes!"

And thinking: _**We're ready.**_

Not by a long shot, we weren't!

* * *

At first it was just one big silver mess under the silver moon - sorry, that's about as detailed as it was, almost like a cloud. But of course that's just the hood. Throw that back, shed the cape to match, and the thing under there is apparently black. Black-clad, at least, speaking softly and carrying a big sword. Part of me wondered if it'd have a horse head, with purple eyes and oversized teeth, some occultist Fallen shit like that. But there was none of that, unless they decided to fuck around in the opposite direction.

And by _that_ , I mean she was blond.

"There's our girl," the Angel muttered for our convenience, and said no more. Our eyes narrowed, trying to focus in, but something pushed us back, not wanting us to see from a distance, to get much, much closer. We had no reason not to do so.

 _Shiva, Yasaka, Ophis, sure hope you've gotten everyone to safety... wherever that is. Somehow a contingency for this has always slipped all of our minds, hasn't it?_

We rose the invisible escalator down just past the farthest bonfire-or-whatever, which reached only _just_ past our heads this time, in between there and the treeline. Wondered where the barrier ended, wherever it was, still up or (less doubtfully) taken down by some spell or war-charm.

 _Motohama, Matsuda, the many, many Devils and more unknown things. What is the world outside doing right now - or does it even exist? For now, let's say it doesn't. Nothing exists but the world right here, around us._

The thing did not clear up for a long while; we thought it very well might just be the horse-faced thing, although an image plus antlers was coming to mind, too. But that wasn't what it - she? - was. Yes, she was blond, but we could tell no more than that. Lots of blondes, some of which were hot, most of whom were crazy, and only a few we'd ever really known. Issei's mother might've been blond, but he - I - honestly can't remember; all in the past anyway, right?

Not the only thing.

Her face cleared.

As you can guess, it was none other than Irina Shidou.

We dropped the rest of the way to the ground. _No. Way. At all. No fucking way._ But that's exactly what it was, wasn't it? Her, plus a rough decade, some inches and sizes up. Part of me wanted to think it couldn't be her, no way it could be her! Not only was the Holy, but she was here, and she was hot! - not just hot, but "beautiful". Not that that last part mattered to me; she was a friend, after all.

That cross. Silver crucifix around her neck. Not exactly unmistakable, but close enough.

(The sword there was unmistakable, too, once our close-quarters vision cleared enough to see it.)

No sound. Very little life. But everything we could ever need was all here.

 _ **"Irina!"**_ We saw some miniscule reaction, somewhere, couldn't exactly tell where, confirming that it was her name. But we also saw the aforementioned big sword, which we couldn't identify from anywhere, and which was being raised, even now...!

For a moment, we - I - w(-ere/-as) at a loss as to what to do. Fight or plight: fight the enemy, or welcome the friend?

Since the transition exclusively to first-person pronouns is going to be made, guess which we - I - chose.

Ddraig promptly left me, leaving me (metaphorically) naked, far closer to the Girl With the Big Sword than would've been wise. But if you've been listening at all, you'll realize wisdom isn't my specialty. Not only that, but this could've been about something bigger than myself - and indeed it was. But at the same time it didn't even come close.

I wanted to let her remember who I was, and _reeeeeeally_ must've wanted her to drop it all and run at me with open arms. That'd be the best.

"Irina? D-do you know who I am?"

At first, no reply. She looked a little dead - maybe a lot dead, really, as if hypnotized.

I seriously doubt she was hypnotized, though.

"Issei?" She called back, and I thought her lips might've been moving in reverse. But it was definitely her voice, plus the octave-and-a-half drop in the right direction. Something about a more matured version of a friend's voice...

...followed by a swift kick to the balls:

"So I have to kill you, too?" No declaration of recognition, only of action. Straight to the point, crush resolve as quickly as possible, all good strategy stuff. She raised that big sword of hers. Almost like a big dick, Mat or Moto might've said. They would've either been jealous or creamed/crapped themselves, perhaps a different outcome of your choice for each.

"Wha-w-what?"

 _("You've made the wrong choice.")_

 _I haven't._

But I had. I wanted to find recognition, some cathartic look in her eyes saying all this could be left behind and friends could embrace. But that's not what would happen, there was murder in her eyes - or else "martyr".

Her sword was larger than herself, in the sexiest/most concerning way possible. Silver-bluish blade, tar-black leather hilt longer than her forearm, yet she clearly had some grace and strength to holding the thing. It came up - !

! - And it came down. Thing was like a hammer, and I was able to step out of the way in time.

 _Ddraig? Come back._

 _("Already doing so.")_

An Angelic blow landed. A soft one, but to a little fleshy human it's enough to go flying. I missed the bonfire, thank whatever God you will for that, but no one likes landing. Especially not me. The Welsh Dragon must've needed another few moments to will himself up to get out. In the meantime I scrambled to my feet. If it was backwards I'd need to go, backwards it'd be. I took a glance backwards before facing the girl from my memories again. Path was clear if that's what I needed to do. And those stars in the sky... where were they? Nowhere, anywhere? The moon was there, but what of the stars?

I remembered that the enemy was in front, and that was where I'd hold my focus; distraction's a hard habit to break, no matter who it was in front of me. I'd already forgotten how many Angels surrounded us - me? - now.

Someone might've yelled from behind me, but the words were jumbled beyond recognition, and I didn't have the time to unscramble them now. Irina approached, Holy Club-in-Shape-of-Sword coming over her head again. In a way that disturbed even me, I saw that her suit-or-whatever was incredibly form-fitting, and oh, what a form it was! Irina, you've become quite the beautiful young woman, haven't you!?

"You're..." I guess I even wanted to tell _her_ how amazing she looked, how great it was to see her again. But that'd already failed badly enough the first time.

"I'm what? Tell me, what am I?" I took another few steps back. The mud squelching against my shoes sounded a bit too erotic for this mood at the moment, yet in my mind each footfall had its own in-out, each footfall had a different set of legs spread, a different head thrown back in terrible pleasure. Each step backwards - and each step Irina advanced - was another second in which I hated myself for letting any bit of this situation come to it had. My friend was here, and she was an enemy. Go a bit deeper into it, and it becomes ironic, just how saved turns on savior.

"You're..." Ddraig was taking his sweet time. _Fuck you too, red choad_. "You're really here. You know who I am - d-do you recognize me now?"

The reply was clear, razor-sharp:

"Never did." Now her sword swung more horizontally, reaching like a sickle behind her back from her left side as she handled the hilt with both hands. Plain as day at night, I saw what might've been a golden cross fastened at the crossguard. To me, that comes out as a middle finger and grinning skull saying "Die, Satan!" And that's what I was to her now, Satan? No saint, surely, but this was all wrong.

 _Ddraig, now!_

 _("It's difficult.")_

 _And **why the hell is that!?**_

 _("I don't know.")_

 _Then figure it out. We need you._

The sword swung again. I threw myself back, landing on top of what felt like a body. A body at the feet of flame, at that. That'd be no problem, if _Ddraig would make his grand entrance!_ But that being what it was, it stung. Smoke drifted in our direction - even catching, thankfully enough, in Irina's eyes. Not something I'd done, but that can be used. No one likes smoke in their eyes, after all. She coughed, and as she did I died a little. But as long as I remembered this wasn't just for me, this was for all the greater Youkai faction in the House at my back. For my other friends. Keeping that in mind never really helps, does it?

Her spare hand - her right hand, I noticed, and made multiple inward comments at - came up to her eyes while her other hand held the greater-than-greatsword with no problem. But again, the tactic changed as she held it forward like a lance, or a hot poker. Except the heat was on the other side of me, so...

I decided to move backwards and right, around the big flame. As I did, she followed what must've been the sound of my steps. I looked up. That commander Angel was still only watching.

"Hey, you!" I shouted. "Come down here, help a blind girl out!" He didn't pay me much attention, actually seemed a bit like dozing off where he hovered. He must not have done much moving. How many more Angels are unaccounted for? I took a few more steps back.

 _And what is this little skirmish here doing?_

 _("I'm ready.")_

 _About time, wouldn't you say?_

I turned myself inside-out once again. The Welsh Dragon surfaced, a suit of red armor and spikes, the whole enchilada. Two made one.

"And this is how you did it?"

 _You know that's how I did it._

We wanted to charge her, and she wanted to charge us. All three of us did what we wanted.

CONTACT!

Sword met Dragon's flesh, and Issei wanted to avoid sawing her in half or reducing her to a marshmallow, so we stuck to melee best we could. Ddraig had decades to centuries of one form of hand-to-hand or another, and Issei had training. Yet all of it seemed to flow away, blow after blow, catching against the ridiculously oversized blade or a human body that seemed to feel no pain. This girl was tough, far tougher than one hiding behind playground equipment. Nothing we did could break her grip on the weapon, knock it loose for a second. When we tried to kick, her fingers opened only enough to slide across the long hilt, move the weapon between us and herself. When we tried to punch with any force, she again used the sword as a shield, targeting the parts of our armored body left open in the swing. Every primordial cell was focused, exerting energy to turn the offense into survival - no sword without some form of enchantment comes in plus-twenty sizes.

Even keeping ourselves here was a waste of precious time, Ddraig reminded Issei within us. We made a large leap back, becoming airborne, when that big sword was again our downfall - literally. The thing knocked us out of the air, and as we fell we twisted enough to see that the Angels had left their bleachers in the trees, in the smoke, to invade further, swarming like so many big vultures to whatever's dead and dying. They shimmered, faded softly into the void-black sky, just like that Moon. Black wings were just barely visible, even to our eyes.

We did not hit the ground, again righted ourselves a waist's length above the ground. Irina yelled something indeterminate, quite possibly Latin; to our nigh-omniscient ears it was gibberish anyway.

Issei spoke through us:

" _ **Irina, listen to me. What are you doing** **here?** "_ Stupid question, but anything to keep her diverted, for multiple reasons. We would not need to fight her, we could move elsewhere, fight the Angels wherever they were. We could do what we'd been meant to, and what we wanted. Not only that, but...

" _Issei!"_ It's a different voice when they're screaming. But we recognized that voice, sank to the ground a little at it.

In the moment our head was upturned, Irina lashed out, throwing what comparatively little weight she had behind the blade. Letting distraction become distraction, we did what we should've done several minutes ago: thrown blade and aggressor aside with a flick of the hand. They were separated on impact, thrown ten feet in opposite directions, the blade stoking a low-burning pile of orange flame, Irina rolling several times on the ground. Strange, how focus and the element of surprise can turn a battle.

" _ **Stay down. Please.**_ _"_ We became airborne once more, zipping with a speed that surprised even us after so long.

We reached the House, caught an Angel, slammed it to the ground with far less mercy than we'd shown anyone in recent days. The wings stayed, but if it stuck around...

We continued, slamming freely into the walls of the House, colliding with what was on the other side. We brought the vague creature to the floor, taking the time as it writhed to let fall a few black feathers.

Strange, seeing this place from the inside, so dead.

But we needed to follow the voice. Still inside this building somewhere.

 _Asia, if you can hear us, please cry out. Help us find you._

"Issei!"

 _But no respect for Ddraig, we see._

Still, it was all unimportant. We heard the voice: somewhere upstairs. We followed; admittedly, it was a bit clumsy, at least. Good number of boards exploding.

But it took us a few more moments to see that this specific Angel was making his escape now. And once we saw it, you have no idea how fast we rotated in midair, forgetting there was a barrier between "inside" and "outside".

("Out.")

I - excuse me, _we_ \- needed to get out. Faster. The Angel was directly ahead of me, just a regular old mook by the look of it. But this mook was the bastard who had Asia under one arm like a roll of wrapping paper.

" _ **Stop, dead meat!**_ _"_ Didn't listen. Then again, it might've been worse if he had. At least one Youkai went flying from about the height we'd been at: the attic. Blond trails like cans behind a wedding carriage, screaming. We needed to catch up. Wouldn't be hard.

Something slammed us from the side. We hit the ground. Hard. Far harder than should've been possible. Then again, being stomped to breaking on by some naked BDSM sophomore shouldn't have been possible either. Again, surprise, surprise.

We got a view as we went down: a team effort, between the two worst possibles in this situation.

One of them had a big sword, I now cared even less to find out what it was. The other looked like he owned a bookshop and had a Biblical cosplay addiction.

The Angel smirked.

"We got what we came for. Now we leave."

Surely it wasn't that simple, surely there was some mistake. In Issei's - my - head, an angler fish swam through some black cloud, the little dangling light in front of her eyes slowly waning. No problem, just hook it up to a charger!

" _ **Just like that?**_ " What were we _saying!?_ Then again, what could we say? So much, so little, all of it useless.

We didn't see them leave. The fires all across the clearing suddenly went out - not just quickly died, but fully _out_ in a moment. The world was the sky for several long seconds, in which we couldn't move, couldn't think, couldn't breathe, could only exist.

Our eyes adjusted. That's when we realized something had fucked up our vision, not just the loss of an external light source.

( _"I must leave."_ )

And for the final time for a very long while, he did. He would not resurface.

* * *

"Issei!" I wasn't happy to hear Ophis' voice. But I couldn't exactly let her know that, could I? Make this horrible dream only worse and more real.

I was up to my shins in mud stains, grass shards and what was probably several types of blood. I vaguely remembered turning a misplaced exorcist inside-out; really, up against Youkai, that's the equivalent of bringing a knife to a gunfight! Or would "stopwatch to arm wrestling" be more accurate? Either way, those poor penguins wouldn't come out of this pair of pants, nor the shoes. Not even the socks, in all likelihood. Not without a really good washer, at least.

"Did you get them to safety?"

"Tried. Couple exorcists found us, made it inconvenient. But between everything, moving a few heads wasn't hard."

"Only time-consuming." _Too much time. With even another big player like you on this soccer field, this could've gone differently._

"Afraid so. I'm... sorry."

"Huh. There goes the future of our race."

"What race?"

You'll sometimes notice, in shocking, painful moments, how unreal it all feels until much later. You're on a hayride, the back falls open, you're the last in the back. As you're falling to embarrassment and a noticeable amount of pain, you don't find yourself stopping and saying "huh, I'm falling off a wagon! This is gonna hurt!" You only say that after the fact, when you can rub your head and quite possibly walk back to the stopped vehicle.

And now, no more Dragons.

"We're staying here, aren't we? After all this, we're still staying right here."

"Yes, we are."

I hope you've enjoyed this story so far, but I'm tired. Tired of losing, tired of finding only to see it ain't so. Still plenty to be told, though.

Good night - or, at this time, almost morning.

* * *

...

* * *

 _ **"Thus concludes Act II. Really need some better narrative structuring, don't I?**_

 _ **Another year, up to my [insert basically any body part here] in life, in writing, in dreams, in everything. Turned 17 recently, got into some new musicks, some new books, made new friends, new everything. Playing guitar for a musical this weekend.**_

 _ **To any of you who've made it this far, I must again congratulate you on your really have no idea how much I appreciate what you've done by continuing on, and hopefully the journey's been enjoyable for you, too. Somehow, writing for this fic is the hardest of any of many projects I'm working on, and one can only hope it's worth it.**_

 _ **You're all great human beings, catch you when logic leaves the world."**_

 _ **\- The Toa of Science Fiction**_ **: )**


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